


Tell-Tale Hearts

by nicnac363



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 03:39:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8041081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicnac363/pseuds/nicnac363
Summary: A few days after Marinette helps Chat Noir take down The Evillustrator, he runs into her while roaming the Paris rooftops. This incidental meeting lays the foundation for an unexpected new friendship. But, as time passes and their friendship evolves, the pair have a hard time keeping up with their changing feelings. Canon AU (first season) and just general MariChat trash.The mature scenes can be skipped without detracting from the story line. Sans those scenes, the story is appropriate for Teen and up audiences.





	1. Just an Ordinary Day

Adrien loved the feel of the wind whipping through his hair as he pole-vaulted over the city streets in his alter ego guise. It was rare that he found the time for moments like these and he tried to make the most of them. Ear buds in, lip-synching to Jagged Stone, he raced birds from building to building, thinking about nothing in particular. This was paradise.

He would have been less conspicuous at night, but he hadn’t had the luxury of waiting for darkness to fall. Luckily for the black cat, the fact that the sun was shining didn’t seem to matter. Not many people made the conscientious choice to look up and enjoy the sky as they went about their day so he hadn’t been wasting energy trying to blend in. No one noticed the superhero as he soared swiftly across the bright azure backdrop. No one, that is, except Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

He didn’t see her sitting on the rooftop deck of her parents’ bakery until he was already passing overhead. She looked up as his shadow briefly blocked out her light and her eyes continued to follow his dark figure as the downward part of his arc dropped him onto a neighboring building. He landed in a crouch and turned to face her as he stood. She gave him a small wave. An unreadable expression was on her face, some mixture of surprise and confusion with a hint of bemusement. None of the giddy enthusiasm he was expecting from a supposed Chat Noir fangirl. _‘Weird,’_ he thought to himself. _‘I could have sworn I saw a giant ladybug floating next to her head a second ago.’_

He waved back, a smirk tugging up the corner of his mouth. He pulled out his ear buds, looped them around his neck, and paused his music. The only thing this near-perfect break had been missing was some company and here was a friend, one he had been hoping to get to know better, just hanging out as though she had been waiting for him. He slipped his baton into the holder on his back and took a few steps back. _‘Must be kismet,’_ he thought as he took a running leap and somersaulted over to her, ending his jump in a low bow in front of her chaise lounge.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite faux Ladybug,” he said as he straightened up. “Come here often?” he added with a wink. He was amused to watch her start to roll her eyes and then catch herself quickly, replacing her mildly exasperated expression with the one of eager admiration he had been expecting when he’d first turned to look at her from the other building.

“Chat Noir, on my rooftop! How fortunate am I to get to see you twice in the same week?” she gushed, attempting to seem flustered.

Chat wasn’t buying it. He’d seen her when she was truly flustered after all; as that was pretty much the only way she was with his civilian self. Now that he was paying attention, he could see the mischievous glint in her eyes that meant she was putting on a show for him. He wasn’t surprised he’d missed that glint a few days previously what with all the concentration he had been putting into his demonstration of bravado on her doorstep.

“Nice try, cupcake,” he said as his smile grew wider. “I can see through the charade. Though by all means, keep it up. It’s a- _mew_ -zing.”

The pun shattered her façade. This time she let her eyes roll freely, though a small grin did blossom across her face.

“You caught me,” she said, putting her hands up. He noticed that she had a sketching pencil weaved between the fingers of her right hand. “Not that I’m not a fan,” she continued. “I’m just not that exaggerated about it.” She returned her hands to her lap where he saw a sketchbook laying open, a loose page with what looked like a design for a dress resting on top, and a pair of scissors glinting brightly on the lounge next to her.

“Ah,” Chat said bringing his eyes back up to her face. “Good to know. Though I’m a little disappointed you thought you needed to stroke this cat’s ego like that.”

She giggled. “What am I supposed to think when you’re so…” She paused, searching for the right word. “Over-the-top?” she concluded, gesturing towards all of him. “It’s hard to tell how much of you is real. I guess I was thinking I would give tit-for-tat.”

“I think you mean kit-for-chat,” he responded almost immediately.

“See,” she sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “That’s what I mean. I find it hard to believe that under all that black leather is an average Parisian boy who actually goes around saying and doing so many outlandish things.”

He paused and gave her a thoughtful look before sitting down on the wall next to her without an invitation. “First of all, who said I was ‘an average Parisian boy’? They don’t give superpowers out to just anyone you know.”

Marinette had to give him that one. He seemed to have more to add, so she let the silence breathe for a few moments, until he was ready to continue.

“You’re right though,” he finally said, leaning back on his outstretched arms and looking up towards the sky. “I think part of it’s the suit. Wearing it, I feel like I can be a completely different side of myself.”

“A side that’s reckless? Flirtatious? Wild?” Despite the mocking words, Marinette’s expression was actually one of understanding.

Chat laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand. “I suppose I’m all three, though my intent is to be chivalrous, courageous, and charming.” He grinned broadly at her, wriggling his eyebrows.

Marinette smirked back in response. After a pause, her smile faltered a little and she responded, “I can see what you mean about the costume bringing out a different side of yourself. I guess I never really thought about it, but Ladybug is definitely the same way. I doubt out of costume she delivers corny lines as she takes down her competition or yells ‘Bug out!’ as she flees the scene afterwards.”

Chat couldn’t help snorting at the vision of a civilian Ladybug leaving a chemistry class with a shout of her signature parting phrase and a backflip out the door.

“And the other part that gives you a propensity for theatricality?” Marinette brought him back to the present with a follow-up question.

“The other part,” he began, looking straight into her eyes this time. “Is that it’s an added shield; mostly for Ladybug’s benefit. She doesn’t want to know my identity and it’s easier to keep that secret the more dissimilar I am from my civilian self. I started overplaying it on a conscious level after the second time Ladybug reiterated that it was too dangerous to know each other for real.”

Marinette had to forcibly keep her mouth from gaping open. It was rare that she got to see this super sincere side of Chat and it usually didn't come so out of the blue. She hadn’t realized how much thought and effort he’d been putting into honoring her wishes to remain strangers to each other outside of their masks.

Chat continued his rambling with a wistful look on his face, “It’s hard sometimes. I don’t have that many close friends. I’d love to talk to and get to know Ladybug as just myself, but I know she’d think it was too dangerous, even if we kept our masks on.” He sighed and laid back on the wall, hands folded behind his head.

If he’d been looking at Marinette still, he’d have seen that his words had set off a fierce debate in her mind. After several long moments of staring at his relaxed form, she seemed to come to a decision.

“What’s your favorite color?” she asked suddenly, sitting up and closing her sketchbook with her pencil inside to serve as an extra marker for the page she’d been on.

Chat was taken aback. It took him a beat to recover and then, “Sea green,” he responded as he turned his head towards her, confusion evident in his features.

“Not what I was expecting,” Marinette replied, swinging her legs over the side of the lounge so she was facing him. “More specific than I would have guessed.”

“It was… is the color of my mom’s eyes,” he added looking away towards the potted plants nearby, a sheepish expression creeping onto his face.

It was Marinette’s turn to look taken aback. Since she couldn’t get to know Chat as Ladybug, she’d decided to try as Marinette, even though she knew it would be tricky steering clear of topics that might give away his identity. She hoped Chat would realize that too and censor his answers appropriately. Not that she could figure out who he was by his mom’s eye color alone, but the candor with which he’d answered had thrown her a little off guard, just as his honesty regarding the reasons behind his theatrical persona had.

She took a second to regain her mental footing before continuing her efforts. “Favorite food?”

“Anything with a carb to protein ratio greater than 5 to 1,” he replied with a smile as he caught on to her game. He turned onto his side to face her. “I can’t allow this to be one-sided, bonbon. What’s your least favorite subject in school?”

Marinette made a face. She’d preferred “cupcake.” “What’s with all the nicknames?” she huffed.

Chat clicked his tongue. “Nuh uh. Your turn to answer.”

“History, I guess,” Marinette said as she crossed her arms. “There’s so much of it and not all of it is interesting. Like memorizing all the past presidents, both boring and a waste of brain space. She paused thinking back to the things she’d learned about Ladybug while fighting “The Pharaoh.”

“Of course, there is plenty of history that is fascinating, so I don’t completely hate it. Now, what’s with all the nicknames?”

“I just think they’re fun,” Chat answered with a shrug. “I’m trying to find one that fits you.”

“And bonbon is the best you can come up with?” she balked, one eyebrow raised.

“Of course not,” Chat said, attempting to look offended, though his grin utterly ruined the illusion. “I’ll get it right eventually. Patience, young grasshopper, patience. Hmmm…” he tapped his chin as he tried to think of another question. The glare from the scissors caught his attention. “What were you doing out here before I dropped in?”

“I was trying out this design trick I saw online,” she said pulling her sketchbook onto her lap and opening it to the page with the loose leaf of paper Chat had noticed earlier. She pulled the paper out and turned it towards him. “You design an outfit on a sketch of a model, cut the clothes out of the page, and then you can hold it up to the world and try different environmental elements out as fabric.”

Chat sat up and held the paper up at face level, eyes wide. She’d designed a multi-layered dress with a sweetheart neckline and A-line silhouette. The model was also holding the cut out of a medium sized purse up at arm’s length. He turned towards the Eiffel Tower and held the design in a way that caused the monument to be framed in the body of the dress, but off center, more to the right. At the angle he was looking, the top of the dress and the bag ended up being the same shade of blue sky peppered with fluffy cotton-colored clouds, while the body of the dress was a crazy gradient of city skyline at the bottom transitioning to cerulean at the top.

“This is amazing!” he said as he moved the drawing left along the horizon, marveling at the thousands of different dresses this one design could become.

Marinette giggled. “I know, right? My plan was to make three or four different designs and try them out at different times of day. Can you imagine the gorgeous ball gown you could make out of the Paris skyline at sunset? I’m hoping I can make what I see for real someday. I’m planning to document the designs by taking pictures with my phone for future reference.”

Adrien knew Marinette was into fashion, but he’d never heard her talk about her passion before. She was practically glowing with excitement. He suddenly felt a weird pang of jealousy that she was willing to be so open with Chat, who was practically a stranger, when she could barely string a sentence together in front of Adrien, a supposed friend.

He brought the cut out back down and handed it to her. “Thanks for showing that to me. You’re really talented.”

She smiled awkwardly at the compliment and waved her hands in the air, the drawing flapping with the movement. “Oh, haha, thanks, Chat. It’s nothing really. Like I said, I stole the idea from someone else. Wish I could take full credit for the creativity.”

He smiled at how similar she looked at that moment to the Marinette he knew from school, so different from the Marinette he’d been conversing with on the roof so far. She’d been reminding him of someone, but he lost the who completely with her sudden transformation. “Don’t be humble, Marinette. Even if you borrowed the idea of the cut out clothes, the dress itself is well-designed, and that you did from your own head.”

Her face started to flush and she changed the subject quickly before he could say something that would make her enter full tomato mode. “How come you were out scouring the city before you stopped to chat?” She noticed the sparkle of triumph in his eye and added quickly, “And no, that was not intended to be a pun.”

“Sure,” he drawled. “You’re just too afraid to admit that you think puns are _purr_ -fectly wonderful.” He raised his arms swiftly to catch the chaise pillow she threw at his head, both of them laughing.

“My father keeps me on a very tight schedule,” Chat finally answered when he caught his breath. “Normally at this time on Saturday I’d be in my room doing my homework, but I finished it during study hall yesterday and conveniently forgot to mention that I didn’t actually have anything to work on today.” He noticed Marinette stare questioningly at his cat ears and added, “I couldn’t go out as my civilian self or my father might have gotten word that I was out wandering around. Plus, it’s more fun to travel by baton than bus.” He gave her another Cheshire-sized grin. “Speaking of parents, how did yours meet?”

Marinette’s eyes brightened at the question, as they had when she was talking about her design plans for the day. “They love to tell this story,” she said, remembering the last time they’d told it at a family reunion two or three years ago.

“My mom had come to Paris for a study abroad program at the Paris School of Business. As a full-time student at Shanghai International Studies University, a sister school of PSB, she was able to come here and take courses. Anyway, mid-terms had just ended and she had gone out to a celebratory dinner with friends at the restaurant my dad happened to work at. At the time, he was in culinary school by day and a line cook by night. He was on a 10 minute break when she walked in and he swears he knew they were soulmates from her smile,” at this point Marinette had that faraway look of people dreaming of love. Chat smiled at how endearing it was.

“He came up with a plan to introduce himself by delivering her food to the table. Unfortunately, I get my clumsiness from my dad. On his way over to her table, he tripped over a patron’s outstretched foot and dropped my mom’s ratatouille directly into her lap.” Here both boy and girl started sniggering as they pictured a younger, flustered-looking Tom peering up from the floor at the younger Sabine he had hoped to woo.

“Everyone in the restaurant froze. Thinking quickly, my dad stood up, grabbed a peony from a nearby table, and knelt in front of my mom, holding it out to her with his head bowed. He promised to make it up to her by taking her to his favorite café the next day. And my mom, dress covered in twenty different kinds of vegetables, broke into laughter as she took the peony and told him she’d only accept if he threw in a tour of the city afterwards. Of course, he agreed, and the next day they met in front of Notre Dame. She had the peony tucked into her hair, he was wearing the biggest grin she’d ever seen, and the rest is details.”

Marinette exhaled and looked up at Chat, a smile still in her eyes. “My parents’ love story is borderline unbelievable,” she concluded. “It’s given me unreasonable expectations about romance.” She paused, thinking of rain, the feel of warm fingers brushing her skin, and emerald green eyes.

“Have you always lived in Paris?” Marinette fired back at Chat, shaking the flashes of memory from her mind. The duo had a nice rhythm going at this point.

“No,” he said, a trace amount of sadness slinking into the corners of his eyes. “I was actually born on the coast. We lived there until I was around 5 or 6. We moved to the capital when my dad’s career started to take off. I don’t remember too much about life before Paris. Just little things, like the sound of the waves at night, the feeling of hot sand sliding between my toes, my parents laughing downstairs late at night after they thought I was asleep in bed...” He shook his head, re-calibrating his thoughts before asking, “What’s your favorite baked good?”

“Macaroons, hands down,” Marinette answered easily. “Aesthetically pleasing, easy to eat, and so many flavors to choose from.”

The sadness around Chat’s eyes had made her remember back to something he’d said earlier. She knew it was probably too personal, but the question was out of her mouth before she could stop it. “When you mentioned your mom before, you switched from ‘was’ to ‘is,’ why was that?"

For a second, she thought Chat wasn’t going to answer. She had just opened her mouth to apologize for touching on a topic that was clearly taboo when he spoke.

“My mom went missing three years ago,” he blurted, staring at his lap where his clasped hands rested. He took a deep breath in, steadying himself before he looked back into her eyes. “One day, I woke up and she was just gone. No note, none of her stuff missing, no one who had any idea where she might be; as if she had just vanished into thin air. My dad spent a fortune trying to find her. The police were in and out of our house for months looking for any shred of evidence that could indicate what had happened to her.”

Marinette felt herself starting to tear up. Both the subject and the hollow tone in which Chat was speaking, so unlike his normal lilt, made her heart ache.

“So, to answer your question,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I switched tenses because I don’t know whether she’s dead or alive. I’m desperate for it to be the latter, which is why I ended with ‘is,’ but after three years without a single clue, it’s hard not to slip up and use the past tense sometimes.”

They continued to stare at each other for a while after this revelation. Marinette felt like she should try to comfort him in some way, but she was frozen. If she had been Ladybug, she would have had no problem hugging her partner after such a show of vulnerability. She wasn’t Ladybug right now though. She was “My Parents are Both Definitely Alive and Happy Downstairs” Marinette and she had a hard time believing anything she could say or do in that moment could bring Chat an ounce of solace.

“Sorry!” He said suddenly, tearing his eyes away from hers. “I don’t know why that all just spilled out.” He was visibly anxious, looking anywhere except her eyes and rubbing the nape of his neck again. I’ve never talked to anyone about her disappearance before.” A hint of pink was staining his cheeks. “You’re just… you’re just really easy to talk to I’m finding out…” he trailed off.

“You sound so surprised,” she said, a similar blush appearing on her face. She suddenly seemed to not be able to look at him either.

 _‘I can’t say it’s because you can barely say two words to me at school,’_ he thought looking back at her now that she was safely staring at her hands.

Another short span of time passed as they sat in individual thought. They were both in awe of how little things around them had changed in the hour or so they’d been talking, yet everything felt shifted somehow.

Marinette finally looked up. The pink was still in her cheeks and she smiled sweetly when her eyes met Chat’s once more. “I suppose this makes us friends now, Chat,” she said extending her right hand.

He responded with his own smile as he reached out to shake her proffered hand. “I suppose it does, _purr_ -incess. I suppose it does.”

 

!@#$%^&*()_)(*&^%$#@!@#$%^&*()

**Author's Notes:**

Hope you enjoyed chapter one of six! Feel free to leave questions, comments, suggestions, and kudos :)

Reference for Marinette’s pre-Chat activity: [Here](http://www.boredpanda.com/paper-cutout-art-fashion-design-architecture-shamekh-bluwi/)


	2. Birds of a Feather

After that first day, Chat hadn’t come back to the bakery for a few weeks. He’d wanted to visit Marinette again immediately, but his father had just released a new line of semi-formalwear for adolescent boys and had packed Adrien’s schedule with photo-shoots and runway shows accordingly. Between the release of the new clothing line, school, two intervening akuma attacks (one of which nearly ruined his reputation as Chat Noir), and all his private lessons, he’d been too overwhelmed to try to visit her as his superhero self. He was thrilled to finally find himself free one night, after a quiet Friday dinner alone.

Plagg was surprisingly blasé about allowing Adrien to transform in order to get out of the mansion for a few hours. The kwami wouldn’t admit it, but Adrien was positive that Plagg disliked being cooped up in the big house almost as much as he himself did.

On his journey over to the bakery, Chat prayed that it wasn’t a bad time for Marinette to receive a visitor. Luckily she was sitting by herself at her desk, her back facing the balcony he had landed on.

Chat took a deep breath and rapped quietly on the glass door. Marinette jumped in her chair at the noise. By the time she turned around to glare at him, there was a huge smirk plastered across his face. Chat watched her turn back around and stow something that vaguely resembled an apple into a set of drawers on her desk. That task complete, she stood and walked over to the balcony doors to let him in.

“I’ve come to call on my fair _purr_ -incess,” Chat said, dipping into a low bow as soon as the door was open.

“I wasn’t sure if my alley cat was going to come back,” she said rolling her eyes and turning to walk back into her room.

Chat took that as an invitation to follow her, shutting the doors behind him. He paused to take in his surroundings. He was a little surprised by how much space she had. Not as big as his room of course, but his room was absurdly large for a teenager.

He did a double take as his eyes scanned past some ripped out magazine pages taped to the wall behind her computer. They were all of his civilian self.

“Huge fan of Gabriel Agreste I take it?” he asked as he started towards her desk for a closer look.

She was rummaging around in her armoire and hadn't noticed where his attention was focused. “Of course!” her muted voice exclaimed. “He’s only the most amazing designer of his generation.”

 Chat was standing in front of her display now, frowning. _‘If she hung up these pages for the clothing designs, why did she only choose the outfits I’m modeling? I know she’s interested in more than just men’s fashion based on what she was doing on the deck the other day.’_ As soon as he’d finished the thought, Marinette’s screensaver came on and Chat got the jolt of a lifetime. There was his civilian self again but this time a huge heart had been photoshopped around his face. Suddenly, everything about Marinette’s behavior at school fell into place.

He heard her give a startled squeak followed by fast footsteps. She swatted at her mouse, but it was too late, he’d seen all he needed to learn her secret. Her face was a deep scarlet in color. He was glad she wasn’t looking at him, so he had time to compose his face into a Chat-appropriate expression.

 “So...” he started, smirk replacing the shocked “O” his mouth had been in as he turned towards her. “You’re one of those obsessed Adrien fangirls, huh? No wonder you have no room in your heart for moi.”

“No!” she spluttered. She slammed the sewing box she’d pulled from her armoire down onto the desk next to the computer. “I’m not like them at all. I mean, sure, I have a huge crush on him, which renders me nearly incapable of speech whenever he’s around, but that’s because I actually know him. I’m not just in love with the way that he looks, I’m in love with his personality too.” She paused mid-ramble realizing what she had said. “Did I say ‘love’? I meant like! Really, really, like. Ah! I’m just going to stop talking right now and go throw myself off the balcony, excuse me.”

Chat watched flabbergasted as she actually started to turn towards the balcony doors he’d recently come through.

“Hold on there, _purr_ -incess,” he said grabbing her by the elbow. “I’m just teasing! Why do you care that I know, who am I going to tell? Ladybug?”

He didn’t know how to feel about what he’d learned. Sure he thought she was cute, and he had learned a few weeks ago that she was also smart, creative, funny, caring, curious, and any vast number of other adjectives, but he was firmly in love with his lady. Come to think of it, maybe that’s who Marinette reminded him…

“Sorry, what was that?” he snapped out of it, releasing her arm now that he was sure she wasn’t going to make for the balcony again.

“I said,” Marinette repeated, an accusatory finger pointed at his chest, “You could be any one! Maybe you know Adrien in your civilian life.”

 _‘Maybe I am Adrien in my civilian life,’_ he thought, the irony causing a smile to twitch at the corner of his lips.

“I swear on my love of Ladybug that your secret is safe with me,” he said out loud instead. _‘Technically the truth,’_ he consoled himself. _‘I can’t tell myself something I already know.’_

Marinette shook her head at that. “Not good enough. I need something sincere, kitty cat.”

He flinched at her words. “Me-owch. How do you know I’m not sincere?”

She looked bewildered and then guilty. “I just… you act like such a flirt. I thought your declarations were all part of the theatrical persona.”

“Well you thought wrong,” he said with a little more frustration and anger than he realized he felt. “Sorry,” he sighed and turned to look out at the city skyline. “I guess I’m still a little sore about the whole Copycat thing. Ladybug doesn’t believe I’m sincere either. Maybe it’s my own fault, I do flirt more freely with her than I would as my civilian self, but it’s not because I’m insincere.”

He turned back to look at Marinette. “I’ve been in love with her since Stoneheart. When she stood atop the Eiffel Tower and refused to back down from Hawkmoth, I was a complete goner.”

“But,” she began, clearly taken aback, “She could be anyone under the mask. She could be completely different without it.”

“I doubt it,” he replied definitely. “I think the mask gives her more confidence to be who she truly is.” He laughed remembering how he’d met Ladybug. “We found each other because she literally crashed into me and proceeded to introduce herself as, ‘Madly clumsy.’ And then, she almost decided to let the Paris Police Force handle Stoneheart because of how guilty she felt about letting his akuma escape the first time. She was really hard on herself in the beginning. I mean, she still holds herself to high standards, but she forgives herself more easily now. I think without the mask that she’s more of the early Ladybug, a little timid but with bursts of self-assurance that help to inspire and motivate others, and I love that girl too.”

Marinette couldn’t help but feel a small flutter in her chest at his words. He had been right earlier though, with Adrien taking up residence in her heart, there wasn’t any real room for Chat.

“Why don’t you tell her all that then?” she asked in a small voice. She’d already guessed at the answer. It was probably the same reason she was terrified to talk to Adrien about her feelings.

“’Cause I’m afraid I would tell her all that, and she would still reject me,” he replied, confirming her suspicions. “And then, it would be hard to be partners, and I value our partnership above all else.”

“I’m sorry, Chat,” she said putting a hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “I guess we’re both members of the Unrequited Crush Club.” He gave her a sad smile and a nod of agreement.

She removed her hand and turned towards her desk, clapping her hands together in front of her as she did so. “Well then,” she said. “How about we distract ourselves with something a little more cheerful?”

He gave her a quizzical look as she opened the sewing box on her desk and brought out a handmade Lady Wifi doll.

“Wow!” his eyes lit up as she handed it to him so he could appreciate the amazing amount of detail that had gone into the doll’s costume. “She looks just like the real thing, Marinette!”

Marinette beamed with pride. “Easy enough to get the details right when several videos and pictures are available online to help in drafting the design.”

 _‘And when you happened to be one of the heroes who fought her up close,’_ she added in thought alone.

“I’m glad you like her. I occasionally babysit this little girl that I thought would love some Miraculous dolls to play with when she comes over,” she continued aloud.

“There are more?” Chat asked excitedly, peering into the sewing box.

“Not yet,” Marinette replied and she pulled out the body of what was clearly going to be a Ladybug doll. “It took me a lot longer to make Lady Wifi than I was expecting. But now that you’re back for a visit, you can help me out.”

She set the unfinished Ladybug doll on the desk beside the box and pulled a drawing pad out. She flipped a couple pages until she came to one with the rough outlines of a Chat Noir doll.

“I was hoping to take a closer look at your costume,” Marinette started, gesturing towards the sketch. “If you don’t mind.”

He smiled brightly at her, setting Lady Wifi carefully back into the sewing box. “In order to have my image more realistically rendered by your hand? Of course, I don’t mind.”

Marinette rolled her eyes but beamed back at him nonetheless. “Thank you!”

She grabbed a pencil from a cup on her desk and stuck it behind her ear, then turned towards him with her “project face” on. “Stand in the middle of the room with your arms out to the sides, please.”

He tried to put on a serious face too and do as he was told, but the vision of shy Marinette bossing him around her room like this made it impossible to keep from grinning.

She picked up the drawing pad and walked over to him. Once she was satisfied with his pose, she removed the pencil from behind her ear and began to sketch. For the next few minutes the only sounds in the room were Marinette’s pencil scratching across the surface of her page and the pair’s soft breathing.

“Can I touch the fabric?” she asked suddenly, disrupting the meditative air that had settled in the room.

“Sure,” Chat smirked. “Just don’t get too handsy,” he winked.

Marinette chose to ignore the comment, instead focusing on Chat’s costume. She’d seen it up close numerous times, and even touched it with her bare hands when they were working to take down the Evillustrator, but she’d never been able to thoroughly examine it before. Though their outfits were made of different material, it seemed that they were similar in that they were made of super strong, extra breathable, and more lightweight versions of non-Miraculous spandex or leather. She circled Chat slowly, taking in everything from how his belt-tail was attached to the ridiculous number of pockets his jacket actually concealed. When she returned to her starting position, she gave the bell at his collar a test ring and was delighted by the cheerful sound it made.

“It’s actually a zipper,” he stated matter-of-factly. “It only works if I consciously want it to, but it is possible for me to take off the costume, but leave the mask and ears magically on.”

“Interesting!” she said, immediately tugging down on the bell experimentally and incidentally exposing his collarbones in the process. She froze when she saw his uncovered skin and blushed profusely.

“No undershirt then, huh?” she said quickly tugging the bell back up.

“I told you not to be so handsy,” Chat laughed good-naturedly at her embarrassed expression.

“That’s so weird,” she said to herself as she turned to scribble some more notes in the margins of her sketch, still slightly flushed. “Ladybug’s costume doesn’t have a zipper. I wonder if the jacket has some special properties we don’t know about yet.”

“Hey, how do you know Ladybug’s costume doesn’t have a zipper?” he interrupted, sticking his head between her face and her drawing pad.

“Uh…” she backpedaled, trying to think quickly. “You didn’t think you were my only superhero friend did you?” she answered coyly.

“Whaaaaaaat?!” Chat yelped. “You know her and you just let me go on and on about her earlier?!”

“Calm down, kitty,” she soothed. “You promised to not share my secret, so I promise not to let the cat out of the bag on yours.”

“Did you just…?” Chat broke out of his panic spiral to stare at her in disbelief.

“Yes, yes I did. You calm now?” Marinette beamed slyly at him.

“I’d be calmer if you told me how you know Ladybug,” he huffed

“That’s a _tail_ for another day, Chat,” she countered.

“I’ve created a monster,” he said, shaking his head.

He caught sight of the clock on her computer. “Yikes. Time for this little kitty to run home.”

Marinette was surprised to feel her face fall at the news. She was enjoying his company far too much.

“Well, my invitation to hangout remains open. Even if it’s for something as mundane as being in the same room as someone when you’re working on homework,” she said, avoiding his gaze. “Just in case your house is feeling too lonely or whatever.”

Chat was unbelievably touched. Without thinking he reached out and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you, Marinette,” he said into her hair. She even smelled familiar, but where…

She pulled out of his embrace before he could finish the thought. Her right hand slid down along his left arm until their hands were loosely grasped and she gave his gloved fingers a squeeze.

“Least I could offer to one of Paris’ great superheroes,” she said and then let go.

He gave her another heartfelt smile of gratitude, which made her abdomen heat-up in a strange new way she didn’t understand, before he strutted over to the balcony doors and tugged one open. He turned to give her a two-fingered salute, grabbed his baton from his back, and began the journey back to his house that was not a home.

And so it was that: (1) a few days later when Dark Cupid struck, Marinette wasn’t too upset when she found herself kissing Chat as Ladybug to free him from the akuma’s spell (she doggedly chose not to overanalyze what her ease with the intimate gesture could mean) and (2) two weeks later Adrien found himself strangely frustrated over the fact that Chloé, and then the Horrificator, had ruined his chances at an onscreen kiss with Marinette (he rationalized that it was natural for a heterosexual teenage boy to want to kiss a cute girl; though that didn’t explain why kissing Chloé had been so much less appealing).

 

!@#$%^&*()_)(*&^%$#@!@#$%^&*()

**Author's Notes:**

Two of six done-zo! I don’t know how Marinette didn’t fall for Chat when he gave her that pep talk in Stoneheart. I would have melted.

As stated previously, feel free to leave questions, comments, suggestions, and kudos :)


	3. It Takes Two to Tango

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has left a comment and/or a kudos on my story thus far! I'm happy to hear that y'all enjoy reading my story as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I'm aiming to have Chapter 4 up within the next week, but it's taking me a bit longer to write than the first three, so my apologies if that doesn't happen.

The first time Chat Noir spent the night in Marinette’s bed it was an accident. They were a few months into their friendship and had been working on homework assignments late into the night; their separate papers sprawled across her comforter. Chat had wholeheartedly taken Marinette up on her offer and often came over just to have company while they both worked. He always took special care to hide any potential identity revealing assignments from her.

It’d been a long day for both of them; Kung Food had been a challenging opponent (though Adrien had been pleasantly surprised by the ease with which Marinette had talked to his civilian self during parts of that day’s adventures). Chat fell asleep first, head in a history textbook. Marinette had fully intended to wake him as soon as she put the finishing touches on her literature essay, but as she was doing a final read through, she too drifted off.

Sabine’s sharp knocks on the trap door woke them in the morning. Somehow, all their study materials had ended up on the floor and Marinette’s abdomen had ended up as Chat’s pillow, her fingers intertwined in his golden locks. The pair bolted upright when they noticed their position and Marinette unceremoniously shoved Chat off the bed, fearing what would happen if her mom were to open the door and see a teenage boy clad in a black leather cat suit lounging on her daughter’s bed.

Fortunately, Sabine did not peep in that morning and Marinette breathed a sigh of relief. Chat’s muffled voice drifted up from where he had landed in a comical heap on the loft floor. “Good morning to you too, _purr_ -incess.”

Marinette yawned, the adrenaline already fleeing her body. “I thought cats always landed on their feet,” she retorted and threw one of her pillows on top of him for good measure.

“Like I've never heard that one before,” he replied, not making any attempts to stop the pillow from hitting him.

After a beat or two, Chat suddenly bolted upright. "Merde!" he exclaimed as his eyes darted around her room in search of a clock. “What time is it?”

“Today’s… Sunday?” Marinette asked groggily as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Her pigtails were completely askew from falling asleep with her hair still tied up. “Mom usually wakes me up around 7 AM if it’s Sunday,” she continued, now blindly groping for her cell phone among the bed sheets in order to confirm both the day and time.

“Oh, putain!” Chat groaned in response, stooping to shove his stuff into the bag he’d brought over yesterday evening.

“What’s that American saying?” Marinette laughed as she watched him scrambling on the loft floor. “’Pardon my French’? Someone has quite the potty mouth today.”

“Considering my dad’s assistant is probably 5 seconds away from walking into my room to find that I’m not there, I think it’s warranted,” he responded. He stood up, clutching his bag and scanning the room one more time. _‘If Marinette finds out who I am because I left a term paper with my name on it laying on her floor, I will never hear the end of it,’_ he thought. When he was satisfied that no such mishaps were likely to occur, he slipped the messenger bag on, slipped down the ladder, and ran to the balcony doors.

He threw them open and skidded to a halt. He quickly turned to give Marinette his signature two-fingered salute before opening his baton and racing back towards the Agreste Manor, praying that Nathalie thought he was in the shower.

He laughed to himself a few days later when he came over as Adrien to practice for the _Ultimate Mecha Strike III_ tournament and noticed his face missing from her walls and computer. And a few days after that, when he was back as Chat Noir to study on Marinette’s lounge while she worked on her latest design project nearby and they shared a plate of brightly colored macaroons, he was weirdly happy to see her Adrien-themed decor back on the wall.

The following week while coaching Nino through an earpiece at the zoo, he was surprised at how easily the phrase, “I love you, Marinette,” slipped from his lips.

**\-------------------------------------------------**

The second time Chat spent the night in Marinette’s bed, it was still an accident, but less of an accident than the first time. He was curious to see if she would let him get away with another sleepover. She was too kind to force him back to what she knew was a cold and lonely house. She set an alarm 15 minutes earlier than she otherwise would have to give him the extra time he would need to make it home before his absence was discovered.

The third time Chat spent the night, they both pretended that it was an accident, but each knew that they were beginning to prefer the company of the others’ warm body at night. The next day he brought over his favorite pillow and she hung a shelf on the wall next to what was to become his side of the bed.

As the months went by, they didn’t talk about the fact that Chat invariably spent more nights in Marinette’s bed than he did his own. They didn’t talk about whether it meant anything that they often woke tangled up together. They tiptoed around the topic as if acknowledging the sleepovers would break some spell. The only time the subject was ever broached was when Marinette silently dropped a pair of homemade Chat Noir pajamas into his lap one night when her parents were out of town as the pair sat down in her living room to watch _Amélie_.

He’d picked the clothes up, mouth slightly open as he appraised them. They were simple but well made. A baggy black t-shirt with a bright green cat paw seamlessly stitched onto the front and a loose pair of black cotton pants with smaller green cat paws polka-dotting the fabric. _‘Those must have taken her forever,_ ’ he thought.

He’d turned to ask her a question, but she’d put a finger to his lips to prevent him from saying anything as she stared deliberately straight ahead at the television. Without looking over at him, she’d tapped the large bell at his collar once, before reaching into the popcorn bowl on the table in front of them and shoving a huge handful of the buttery snack into her mouth.

He had given her one of his small, grateful smiles, before getting up and walking out of the room. After a few minutes, he’d sauntered back in, clad in his new sleepwear, leather suit folded neatly and tucked under his left arm. He’d resumed his place on the couch after setting said suit on the arm of the sofa, and marveled at the feel of being out of costume at Marinette’s house. Of course, his mask and cat ears were still solidly in place thanks to the magic of the Miraculous and he'd had to leave his right glove on because it was impossible to get it off without dislodging the ring, but it was nice to feel the air on the exposed parts of his skin. He realized he’d been spending an exorbitant amount of time in costume since he’d started coming over to the bakery and he hadn’t fully comprehended how much the leather dulled his sense of touch.

He snaked his right arm back along the couch, and Marinette reoccupied her previous position, tucked into his chest. When the movie ended they went up to Marinette’s room without any further acknowledgment of the pajamas or what they could mean. Though it went unsaid, they both felt that another shift had taken place in what had started off as just another normal day.

 

 **\-------------------------------------------------** -

 

The first time Marinette and Chat kissed, it most definitely was not an accident. They had convinced themselves that it was a necessary educational experience. One of a series of coming of age things they needed to learn with someone they trusted before trying it out with someone they loved (and therefore wanted to impress). Technically, it wasn’t their first kiss, but only Marinette knew that.

They were seventeen and had been spending a Saturday evening inside playing the new _Ultimate Mecha Strike V_ when a call from Alya interrupted their final battle. She had called Marinette to deconstruct her first kiss with Nino, which had happened earlier that day.

“Girl, it was magical in that it was our first kiss, but that’s pretty much it,” Chat could hear the blogger’s laughter coming through the phone. “Upside was that we both knew it was terrible. So, we decided to practice some more, right then and there, and unintentionally ended up making out on our picnic blanket next to the Seine.”

“Alya!” Marinette gasped in faux horror before giggling.

“What? We live in the City of Love!” Alya exclaimed without a shred of shame for engaging in PDA. “Of course, an akuma just had to come along and ruin the fun,” she sighed. “Luckily, The Miraculous Five showed up to save the day.”

Marinette frowned a little at that remark, she didn’t remember seeing Alya anywhere near the akuma attack earlier. Come to think of it, since the real Volpina had emerged a few months ago, she hadn’t seen Alya, or the cell phone typically superglued to said girl’s palm, at the scenes of any akuma attacks…

“What was that?” Marinette said into the phone, shaken out of her reverie by the ludicrous suggestion she thought she’d heard Alya just utter.

“I said,” Alya’s tone clearly indicated she was rolling her eyes. “That you and that mysterious boy you’ve been hanging out with should practice with each other. It’s only cause of him that you are now able to be your normal, spunky, lovable self around Adrien, it makes sense that you would practice other things.”

Marinette was mortified at how loudly Alya was speaking, even though much of what she said was true. Ever since Marinette became friends with Chat it had been getting easier to talk to Adrien. The more she got to know the model, the more he seemed like…

“Girl, I’m telling you,” Alya’s voice interrupted her thoughts once more. “If you ever get the guts to ask Adrien out, you will want to have perfected your lip-locking technique.”

“Alya!” this time Marinette’s exclamation was one of true horror, since said catboy could clearly hear everything being said.

“He’s there again, isn’t he?” Alya asked, not lowering her volume at all, the smile evident in her voice.

Marinette’s mouth just flapped quietly up and down a few times like she was a fish out of water.

“You hear me, mystery boy?!” Marinette had no idea how, but Alya’s voice had actually gotten louder. “You should teach my best friend how to kiss!”

Marinette immediately pulled her phone away from her face and hit the end call button as Alya’s cackles rung out over the mini-speakers. Once silence had descended on the room, Marinette threw her phone at the chaise lounge as if it had burned her.

Without saying a word, she walked back over to the rolling desk chair next to Chat’s and picked up her controller. She was the same shade of pink as the strawberry cupcakes laying half eaten between them. Without warning she hit the pause button to recommence the round, but Chat reflexively froze the game once more using his controller.

“It’s not a terrible idea,” Chat said after a beat or two. He wasn’t looking at her either and his face was readily approaching the same shade as the Ladybug emblem on the t-shirt he was wearing, part of a second loungewear set Marinette had made for him. As he said it, he was thinking of their missed movie kiss and the nearly nightly dreams he had been having recently about either Marinette or Ladybug, he couldn’t tell one from the other in that fantasy realm, which had been causing him to wake each day with a decidedly male morning problem that he had to hide from his sleeping bed partner.

“But I like Adrien,” she replied, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself rather than presenting a valid argument against kissing Chat. “And you love Ladybug.”

“It doesn’t have to mean anything,” he countered, wondering if that was actually true. “Tell me you aren’t curious and I’ll have to call you a liar.” He was looking at her out of the corner of his eyes now.

Marinette considered, weighing the risks and benefits of kissing Chat as she continued to stare at their characters frozen on the screen. Her hormone-filled teenage body was screaming, _“Yes! Yes! Yes!”_ but her maturing forebrain was saying things like, _“This could ruin your friendship”_ and _“How will you be able to look at Chat as Ladybug without jumping his bones if you know what his lips taste like?”_ and _“You like Adrien, how is this getting us closer to Adrien?”_ until finally it reached the same conclusion as her horny heart, “ _In a way I guess it is logical. Have fun and learn with Chat Noir, develop irresistible lips for Adrien. Maybe this is a win-win.”_

Eventually, she turned to look at Chat. He was staring at her now; his blush had mostly receded at this point. He gave her a small reassuring smile. It was almost imperceptible, but Marinette noticed that his eyes kept darting down to look at her lips. She took a deep breath and decided to try and channel Ladybug for what she was about to say next.

“Alright,” she said, setting down her controller and then swiveling her chair to face him head on. “I’m game, kitty cat. But we need some ground rules.”

Chat couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he pulled himself together enough to smirk back and set down his own controller before swiveling to face her fully too. “And what might those be, _purr_ -incess?” he asked. He hoped he sounded suave and nonchalant instead of overeager.

“One,” she said holding up her index finger. “You have to promise not to fall for me.”

Chat laughed. “Only if you _purr_ -omise the same for me,” he said. “I know it will be tough, but I believe in you,” he added with a wink.

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Deal. This ends the minute either of us starts feeling anything even remotely romantic about the other,” she answered. “Two,” she continued, her middle finger joining her index finger. “We’re talking first base only here. I might be up for… negotiating later on, but for now, kissing only.”

Adrien thought he’d been having a hard time keeping up his Chat persona before, but hearing that sentence come out of Marinette’s mouth almost blew up his whole charade. He swallowed and forced himself to speak. “Okay, keep my paws to myself… for now. Got it.”

“Third and final rule,” Marinette continued, her thumb joining her first two fingers. “This is for educational purposes, so we have to be okay giving and receiving feedback. And this can’t be the only thing we do from now on, we’re friends first, the benefits come second.”

Chat nodded, “Feedback, friends first. Check.”

Before he could think about it too much, he reached out and grabbed both sides of the seat of her roller chair and pulled the whole thing forward so that their knees were interlocked. She was as close as she could get while still seated. “So how are we doing this?” he asked as he leaned forward. His voice was soft and low, the human equivalent of a purr.

Marinette felt her heart speed up. She suddenly became extremely aware of how close his body was to hers. Heat radiated up her frame from where their legs touched and goose bumps sprouted along her forearms. Even though her brain had turned to complete mush at Chat’s actions, she felt her body take charge of itself, leaning forward to meet his.

Her eyes fluttered closed right before their lips met and so did his the second after. The kiss was soft at first but grew in intensity as Chat’s hands slid from the chair onto Marinette’s waist and her hands wove themselves into his silky blonde locks. Everything about it felt natural and Marinette briefly wondered if it could be because they’d done it once before.

Chat couldn’t think about anything except the taste of her lips and the ache in his body screaming at him to bring her closer. He complied, pulling her forward off of her chair and onto his lap. The space between their kisses was filled with hasty breaths drawn solely out of necessity.

Wanting to taste more of Chat, Marinette tentatively touched her tongue to his lips. His grip on her waist tightened as he opened his mouth slightly in response to let her in. His sense of touch felt heightened, everywhere her bare skin met his it felt seared by electricity and the soft pressure of her breasts against his chest was helping to cause the majority of his blood to rush south of his waistband.

Because she was now sitting on his lap, Marinette could feel Chat starting to get hard. A new wave of warmth spread through her body at the knowledge that Chat was getting aroused because of her. Her body, still on autopilot, ground ever so slightly against his erection. At the motion, Chat let out a surprised groan and gripped her even tighter.

With all their movement, Marinette’s shirt had ridden up enough that his hands were gripping skin instead of cloth now. His touch felt so hot that she thought his fingers must be leaving a visible trail. She barely even registered the tiny pinpricks being left in her skin from his still gloved right hand.

Suddenly, Marinette’s phone let out a loud chime. Startled, she broke away from Chat’s embrace and jumped off his lap. They gaped at each other wide-eyed. They definitely had the look of two teenagers who had just been heavily making out; hair and clothes disheveled, faces flushed, lips swollen and slightly darker in color. Chat also had a clear bulge in his pants that Marinette tried very hard not to stare at. His new Ladybug lounge pants hid nothing.

She turned to the chaise lounge and walked over to grab her phone. She had set an alarm so they would know when it was time for Chat to head back to his house for dinner.

Neither of them said anything after the chiming had been silenced. Still facing away from Chat, Marinette finally asked, “Will you be coming back after dinner?”

Chat had a hard time getting words to come out of his kiss-bruised mouth. “Yes,” he eventually said. “If… I’m still welcome back?”

“Of course!” Marinette said, turning to face him, anxiety evident in her eyes. She took a breath to compose herself and continued, “Friends first, remember?”

“Right….” he said, sounding somewhat uneasy. It hadn’t felt like a kiss between friends, even ones with benefits.

“Besides,” she said, giving him a mischievous smile. “You suck. You definitely need way more practice or you’ll never sweep Ladybug off of her feet.”

Chat’s mouth fell open at that. He was not expecting that level of sass from Marinette after what had just happened. But if she was going to play it cool, two could play that game.

“Definitely a case of the pot calling the kettle black,” he smirked. “I definitely have a pointer or ten for you. Feedback will have to wait though, I gotta get back before I’m missed.”

When Chat ran to the bathroom to change into his suit, Marinette fell back onto her chaise lounge and dropped her face into her hands. _‘What was I thinking?!’_ she berated herself. _‘This is insane.’_

She stood as soon as she heard the bathroom door opening a minute later and waved as a saluting Chat ran by and took a running leap through the open balcony doors.

When Chat came back later that night, neither of them mentioned the kiss, there was no real feedback to give after all, and they were both a little afraid of what might happen if they brought it up again so soon. They didn’t end up “practicing” again for another week, and continued to practice at irregular intervals from there on.

Between lessons, they tried and failed miserably at not staring hungrily at each other whenever the other person wasn’t looking.

 

!@#$%^&*()_)(*&^%$#@!@#$%^&*()

**Author's Notes:**

Resources: The Miraculous Five - [Here](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/632192866411944941/)

Oooooooooh we’re halfway there, oooooOoooooh living on a prayer!

As always, feel free to leave questions, comments, suggestions, and kudos :)


	4. There is a Word for This Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to skip the mature content, just scroll down to the dashed line and read from there. The last part of this chapter is pertinent to the plot; the mature content is strictly for funsies.

The first time Marinette and Chat fucked, it was a natural extension of their kissing practice. Another entity in that series of coming of age things they thought better to learn with someone they trusted before trying it out with someone they loved (and therefore wanted to impress), or so they told themselves.

Marinette had lived up to her talk of negotiating past first base practice over the weeks following their first kiss, but besides the occasional clothed grinding, no below the belt contact had yet to occur, even though they had both been “studying” in their own free time.

Adrien was supposed to be out of town the weekend it happened. Gabriel Agreste’s new clothing line had been scheduled to appear on the runway in Milan and Adrien with it, but Gabriel had cancelled at the last minute, citing an insult of some kind by the show’s manager as his reason for doing so.

As much as Adrien enjoyed traveling, he was happy that he no longer had to model that weekend. As he had gotten older, some of the other models had become more aggressive in their pursuit of his attentions. It was exhausting to keep making excuses as to why he didn't want to hook-up with any of them after shows.

As soon as he knew no one would be coming by any more to check on him for the night, he transformed and made his way to Marinette’s. When he got there, he froze on her balcony. She was modeling an outfit to herself in the mirror, if, that is, you could call it a complete outfit.

She had on an oversized black sweater that had a cat’s face emblazoned on the front. It hung slightly off her left shoulder, revealing the bare skin beneath. The bra she was wearing was black with straps that came up to her neck and wrapped around it to form a collar with a tiny bell hanging in the front. Thigh high black stockings that ended in cat ears at the top completed the look. Cat eyes, a nose, a mouth, and whiskers had been carefully hand stitched below the ears on both stockings. Marinette’s hair was down and looked slightly damp; the blue-black tendrils framing her face beautifully.

 Chat couldn’t tell if she was wearing shorts underneath the oversized sweater, but if she was they were definitely the smallest pair of shorts he’d ever _not_ seen.

 His breath hitched as he watched her examine her reflection. She turned to look at the clothes from various angles and appeared to be talking aloud to herself. _‘Maybe it helps with her designing process,’_ he thought continuing to stare in fascination at her.

He was starting to feel very hot in his black leather cat suit, but was glad that he was wearing it. The fact that it was strong and skintight effectively prevented the boner he had developed from being readily apparent.

He considered leaving right then and there, but the possibility that Marinette might agree to kissing practice in her current getup spurred him to push open the balcony doors, which Marinette had been keeping unlocked since he started coming over regularly.

The movement of the doors caught Marinette’s eye and she whirled towards him, blushing furiously.

“You… you said you weren’t coming by this weekend!” she stammered.

“My schedule opened up unexpectedly,” he responded. He started walking leisurely towards her, twirling his tail in his right hand as he did so.

When he got a foot or so from her he stopped and slowly looked her up and down. He was pleased with her response to his open ogling, namely the deepening of the flush splayed across her cheeks.

“I had no idea you’d become such a fan,” he drawled, smirk firmly planted on his face.

“I… “ she stammered, taking a couple of steps backwards to increase the distance between them. She stopped only when she hit her desk and could back up no further. Then she started rambling, “Uhm… Alya saw the pajamas I made for you last time she came over and she thought we could open a merchandise section on the Ladyblog. Now that she’s back from her hiatus and updating it with all the latest on the Miraculous Five, its popularity is skyrocketing. Those new videos she’s been able to capture, practically in the middle of the action, are getting millions of views. She thought it would be a great way to make money for university next year. I was just testing out the prototypes I made to make sure the fit is right.”

“I’d say the fit is _purr_ -fect,” he murmured as he stepped forward again so that he could reach out and tap the little bell at her throat with one of his clawed fingers. As she was now comfortable in front of his civilian self, it had been a long time since he’d seen her this flustered and he wanted to have fun with it. She looked adorable.

Chat had the sudden vision of pushing her up onto the desk, her oversized sweater riding up as her legs wrapped around his waist, and kissing her roughly, hands tangling in her soft, damp hair. He was in desperate need of a cold shower.

While attempting to calm the heat inside, he noticed her eyes briefly dart towards the chaise lounge. As a means to distract himself, he began to turn his head to see what she was looking at. Marinette’s eyes widened as she noticed his attention start to divert.

Tikki had been sitting on the lounge munching on a cookie, helping Marinette to evaluate her Chat Noir products and her relationship with Chat himself, when said superhero showed up. Tikki had quickly shoved the cookie into her mouth and frozen. She figured that if the worst came to the worst and Chat saw her, she could pretend to be a stuffed animal, though she doubted that the cloaking power that kept everyone from being able to deduce the identity of Miraculous users would be able to keep someone who knew what a kwami looked like from being able to recognize one. Tikki had just resolved to find herself a refuge and was moving as inconspicuously as possible off the lounge when Chat began to turn his head.

In a panic, Marinette grabbed Chat Noir by the chin, bringing his face back towards hers and kissed him hard, her arms snaking behind his neck to trap his lips against hers. He stumbled back a few steps in surprise, hands grabbing for her waist, then began to respond with equal urgency, pouring the heat that had exploded inside his body into the kiss.

Marinette completely forgot about Tikki as Chat succeeded in pushing her back against the desk thus fulfilling his earlier vision. He reveled in the pressure of her body pressed close to his and her thighs wrapped snugly around his waist.

His hands slipped down to the edge of the sweater. He paused to give her a chance to protest, and was pleased to feel her hands slide down his body so she could guide his hands beneath the sweater to explore whatever bottoms she had on underneath. He cursed his suit. It was difficult to tell through the leather what she was wearing.

Frustrated, he stood up, cupping one hand beneath her firm butt cheeks and wrapping the other around her lower back to take some of the strain off of her thighs. He carried her toward the lounge, which thankfully Tikki had fled as soon as Marinette had completely captured Chat’s attention.

He gently lowered her down onto the lounge, laying partly on top of her while still supporting his own weight. He broke from their kiss, sitting back slightly so he could take her in.

She was panting heavily, lips parted, and rosy-cheeked. He touched the edge of her sweater again and waited. After a moment, she nodded and lifted her body up slightly so that he could maneuver the bulky covering off and over her head.

His breath hitched as he stopped to fully take in the sight before him. Everything they’d done up until that point had been while clothed. With the sweater out of the way, he could clearly see the Chat Noir-themed lingerie Marinette had made. The pieces looked like they were made of black leather. The bra was halter-style, which is why it could wrap around her neck and form the collar, and had a zipper along the cleavage, which Chat suspected allowed it to be opened from the front. The panties were a boyshort cut that looked like they might have actual small pockets, fastened by zippers that cut in diagonally from both sides. He was extremely curious to see what they looked like from behind and felt himself grow harder as he pondered the possibilities.

He desperately wanted to touch her with his bare hands, but didn’t want to presume she would be okay with him removing his suit at that moment.

She must have sensed his hesitation because she sat up to meet him, wrapping her hand around his bell before beginning to pull it down. She started off slowly, but the thrill of exposing his muscular upper torso caused her to quickly tug the zipper down the rest of the way. She pushed the top half of his costume open and away from him, uncovering the whole of his upper body. She’d known he was in-shape from the fit of his suit, but seeing the full degree of his muscle definition made her breath hitch.

Chat stood so he could finish peeling the suit off and Marinette watched with wide eyes from a kneeling position on the lounge. When he finished he stood clad only in a pair of black boxer-briefs, which did little to contain his bulging erection, and one clawed, leather glove. Marinette felt another wave of desire wash through her body as she gaped at him. There was a distinct wetness pooling between her legs. _'I definitely can't send these prototypes in now...'_ she thought, though she wasn't particularly distraught about that fact at the moment.

The reason she had been so flustered when Chat showed up was because she hadn't just been talking to Tikki about the Chat Noir clothes, she’d been talking to Tikki about possibly wearing them for Chat the next time he came over. She had been working herself up to ask him for awhile now if he wanted to do more than make out and paw at her breasts beneath her t-shirt, but didn’t know how. Everything that was happening right now felt like fantasy.

Before he joined her back on the lounge, Chat asked, “May… may I see you from behind?”

Marinette blushed and turned around on the lounge, maintaining her kneeling position. She decided to try something wicked and arched her back so her butt was more prominently on display for him. She was pleased to hear him let out a low moan.

The panties were a cheeky cut in the back made out of sheer black lace with a crisscrossing strappy design on top. “You’re so fucking sexy,” he said as he exhaled, finally remembering to breathe.

She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder and was momentarily stunned by the almost tangible desire radiating off of him. He stepped closer and reached out, but stopped his hand centimeters from her scantily clad behind. “Seriously, Marinette, you have no idea what you’re doing to me.”

The tone of his voice sent shivers through her body. She almost didn’t recognize her own voice as she responded, “You should feel the effect you’re having on me.”

His green-covered eyes tore away from her backside to connect with hers. “May I touch you, Marinette?” he asked in that low tone so much like a purr.

She turned around to face him. “As long as you promise to keep your claws in, chaton.”

 _‘Just when I think she can’t get any hotter,’_ Chat thought as he sat down next to her on the lounge.

He reached forward and pulled on one of the bowstrings of her bra. The bow came undone easily and he unwound the straps from around her neck, until they hung freely from where they connected to the front of the bra. He grabbed the zipper and slowly pulled it down, exposing the soft skin between her breasts. His heart was beating so hard as he reached out his other hand to help unhook the zipper’s insert pin from the bottom stop that he was sure she could see it.

His breath hitched again when he finally freed her breasts. It was his first time actually seeing them. He gave a silent thank you to whatever higher power had brought him to this moment before quickly discarding the bra by tossing it onto the floor.

He gently pushed her back so she was laying on the lounge and he climbed on top of her once more, careful to support most of his own weight. He'd started wearing his ring on his left hand once their lessons had progressed to some Second Base material, so he happily trailed his ungloved right hand lightly around her breasts, tracing random patterns on the skin and watching as her nipples hardened in response to his touch. He could feel her breaths becoming shallower and more rapid, the warm air blowing past his cheek.

“Chat?” she whispered.

His attention snapped back up to her eyes.

“As great as that feels, I’m… uhm… starting to feel really exposed,” she said, a blush beginning to stain her cheeks. “I know you’d still be able to see me with the lights off, so can you do something to take my mind off the fact that I am almost completely naked in front of another human being?”

He smiled at her and nodded before leaning down to kiss her while continuing to play with her breasts. The kiss was soft and slow, and definitely distracting enough for the moment to ease her self-consciousness. One of her hands toyed with his hair while the other explored his broad, muscular back.

After several long seconds, he started to slide his right hand down her abdomen, stopping when he hit the waistband of her panties. He felt her tense the tiniest fraction as his hand continued its journey, slipping beneath the waistband.

“I’ll stop if you want,” he murmured against her mouth, pausing his hand. “But I promise I’ll be gentle.”

He felt her relax as she replied, “No, don’t stop. Just… just so you know, I…. uh… I, ya know, do maintenance down there or whatever, but the… the landscaping still includes a lawn, if you catch my drift.”

Chat immediately removed his hand so he could use it to cover his mouth as he started to laugh uncontrollably.

“Don’t laugh at me!” Marinette huffed and crossed her arms, though a paradoxical smile broke out across her face. The blush was returning full force. “I’ve been looking stuff up and that’s totally a thing! I just wanted to warn you in case you’re one of those guys that gets turned off by pubic hair.”

“That’s very considerate of you,” Chat managed to gasp out between laughs.

She punched him playfully on the shoulder. “I’m starting to regret my life choices,” she added as he finally started to collect himself. “Here’s some feedback: when your with a girl and it’s her first sexual experience, don’t make fun of her!”

“I’m sorry,” Chat said, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes. “I appreciate that you’re thinking about what I might consider a turn-off. I just didn’t imagine you’d be so… what’s the word I’m looking for? Candid? Ah… communicative, at a time like this. It’s surprising. In a great way.” He beamed down at her.

“Well good,” she replied as she uncrossed her arms and wove her fingers into his hair. “I hope I didn’t kill the mood.”

“ _Hard_ -ly,” Chat whispered, moving his lips back towards hers and grinding against her a little to showcase that his erection was still present.

“I should push you off right now for that,” Marinette murmured. “But I’d really love to see where this lesson goes.” She pulled his face down towards hers closing the gap between their lips once more.

Chat slipped his right hand back underneath the waistband of her boyshorts and continued to slide his hand lower until he felt the coarse hair covering her mons pubis. He tentatively reached out with his index finger to where he was sure her clit would be and applied gentle pressure before experimentally performing a small, circular motion with the tip of his finger.

This time when she tensed, it was to grind slightly upward against his touch while she simultaneously let out a small moan that made his lips vibrate.

His finger accidentally slipped a little lower and a thrill ran through his body as he felt how wet she was. He eagerly returned the digit to her clit, so he could continue to move it in slow, languid circles.

“Does that feel good, _purr_ -incess?” he asked, kissing his way down her neck.

“Yes,” came her breathy response. Waves of pleasure rolled through her abdomen as the cycle of muscle tightening and relaxation, familiar to her from self-study sessions, started to build.

Chat continued to kiss his way down her body, stopping at her breasts to tease her erect nipples with his tongue. Marinette’s heart rate kicked up another notch and she was finding it difficult to form any sort of coherent thought.

Too soon for Marinette, Chat paused in his ministrations. He looked up at her with a renewed hunger in his eyes and asked, “May I taste you, Marinette?”

It took her a beat to understand what he was asking, but as soon as she did she instantly turned bright red as her insecurities returned tenfold. “If… if you want to,” she managed to stammer. “But if you don’t like it, you have to be honest and stop immediately.” _‘And then I’ll run and lock myself in the bathroom until my mortification subsides, which will be never,’_ she finished in her head.

“As you wish,” he replied with a smirk. “Though I’d say the likelihood of that is somewhere between highly unlikely and impossible.” He removed his hand from inside her underwear and licked his finger suggestively, his eyes brightening in a way that indicated he enjoyed the sample.

“If you say, ‘Mmmm, tastes like chicken,’ I will pommel you to death with my chemistry textbook,” Marinette said, somehow managing to turn even more scarlet.

Chat chuckled and sat back on his heels so that he was in a kneeling position between her legs. He grabbed the boyshorts with both hands and scooted back, pulling the underwear down as he went. He took the opportunity to remove her stockings at the same time.

Once she was fully exposed, he got down so his face was between her legs and his hands were hooked around her thighs. Then he paused inexplicably.

Marinette was freaking out. He’d been down there for several seconds and was just staring at her, brow furrowed.

“You look like you’re trying to defuse a bomb, Chat, which is definitely not helping my nerves,” she finally said. She was rethinking the whole not turning off the lights thing. At least then _she_ wouldn’t be able to see _him_.

“I may give off an air of confidence,” he responded as he tilted his head so he could look up at her face. “But this is my first time too and I’ve… seen stuff online… but the real thing is a little… intimidating.” He looked back down, a strawberry flush sprouting on his cheeks.

His embarrassment was adorable. Marinette had to stifle a giggle, relieved to hear that he was also nervous, and found herself relaxing despite their present position.

A new sense of resolve seemed to come over Chat’s face and he leaned forward. _‘You got this,’_ he gave himself a quick pep talk.

He thought back to one of the videos he’d watched online and tentatively placed his tongue next to her clit before sliding it around the delicate bundle of nerves, tracing a capital “A” as best he could.

Marinette let out a surprised gasp at the swell of pleasure that swept up her body. Her hands clenched involuntarily where they rested on Chat’s shoulders causing her fingernails to dig in and make minute impressions in his skin.

Chat felt like every centimeter of his body was on fire. He flicked his tongue out again, more confidently this time, tracing a capital “B.”

“Holy shit, Chat,” Marinette moaned, her fingernails digging further into his shoulder. She had completely forgotten about her earlier insecurities.

He wanted to tell her that if she kept saying his name that way he was going to burst into flames, but instead he continued to focus on his present task. He decided to skip ahead to a letter he thought might provoke even more wonderful sounds to burst from her mouth and unwrapped his right hand from her thigh so that he could slowly insert his index finger into her at the same time.

He was not disappointed with the results of his actions. As he traced the “S” around her clit and slowly slid his finger inside her warm, wet center, Marinette involuntarily ground up into him and moaned again. One of her hands had moved into his hair and she pulled sharply on a fistful of the soft strands. What would normally have been painful merely spurred Chat on with renewed vigor. He pulled his finger out and re-inserted it as his tongue traced another “S.”

She seemed to be having trouble forming words, but even without the verbal feedback Chat knew he was doing something right since she was still thrusting up slightly to meet him and tugging at his hair.

Marinette’s eyes had fluttered shut. Visual stimuli were too much for her to handle with all the other sensations building in her body. Colors danced across her closed eyelids, making her feel as though fireworks were going off inside her body. As the peaks of pleasure became higher and quicker her breath became more ragged.

After several minutes, during which Chat experimented by varying his speed and the pressure of his tongue, he could sense that Marinette was close to climax and he hummed against her in excitement. The added vibration caught her off guard and she almost lost it, but just barely managed to hold herself together.

With a huge force of will, Marinette pulled herself away from Chat. He let out a whine and slightly tightened his grip on her left thigh. He looked up at her confused, his lips and chin glistening.

“I need you to fuck me, Chat,” she said. She’d meant to be less demanding, but her near-orgasm made her both desperate and tactless.

He blinked at her. _‘I know I saw her mouth move,’_ he thought. _‘But no way did she just say that.'_

Marinette reached down to the floor and grabbed her discarded boyshorts. She unzipped the left front pocket and extracted a foil square. Chat still hadn’t moved.

“Chat, if you don’t remove your boxer-briefs this instant I am going to rip them off of you,” Marinette half-threatened, half-whined. She could feel her muscles uncoiling themselves, her climax slipping farther away.

That woke him from his shocked stupor. He quickly sat up and managed to tug the offending piece of clothing off himself. He rolled the boxer-briefs up, using them to dry off the lower half of his face and the tip of his cock – where a not insignificant collection of pre-cum had built up, before adding them to the pile of previously discarded clothes on the floor. When Marinette shoved the condom into his hand he quickly ripped it open and rolled it on, glad he had practiced the process in the safety of his own room a few weeks previously.

He lay back down on top of her and kissed her. Then, he reached down and guided the tip of his penis to her opening. She was relaxed and warmed up enough that he slipped a few centimeters inside her without applying any force. It took every ounce of his control to keep from thrusting into her.

He returned his right index finger to her clit, resuming the circular motion he’d performed earlier. She moaned into his mouth and he felt himself slide further inside her as she lifted her pelvis slightly off the lounge.

“God, Mari,” he rasped. “You feel so fucking good.”

“More,” she pleaded. Her fingernails raked across his back, leaving thin red trails in their wake.

 _‘This girl is trying to kill me,’_ was Chat’s last distinct thought as he eased himself the rest of the way inside Marinette, pulling his hand out of the way so their bodies could be flush against each other. He paused when he was fully sheathed inside her, reveling in the sensation.

“You can move, chaton,” Marinette murmured into his ear. “You aren’t hurting me.”

With her reassurance, he slid out and then slowly slid back in, keeping his eyes on her face to watch for any signs of pain or discomfort. On the contrary, he only saw signs of pleasure there as a soft flush crept across her cheeks and her lips parted into a small “o.” She lifted her pelvis up to meet his, a small moan issuing forth as she did.

He picked up his speed and buried his face in her neck. Her scent was intoxicating. He starting nipping and sucking at the place where her neck met her collarbone, delighting in the extra sounds his actions elicited from her.

He started to move even faster, trying to thrust in such a way that allowed her clit to get some form of direct stimulation. He could feel her tightening around his cock the same way she had around his index finger. He didn’t know how much longer he could hold on, but he willed his body to be patient.

Suddenly her fingers dug deep into his shoulders, “Oh my god, chaton,” she gasped. “Right there. Right fucking there.”

With his next thrust it was his turn to gasp as he felt her clamp down around him. Her back arched up into his body and he lifted his head from her neck to look at her face. Her eyes had rolled back in her head and the flush had spread to include her neck and chest. Her mouth opened and closed wordlessly a few times and then his alter ego name spilled forth, breathy and beseeching.

He felt his abdomen tense and his eyes mimicked hers, rolling back as he climaxed with her, losing focus of everything except his orgasm as he finally let himself go. He continued thrusting into her as wave after wave of pleasure rocked both of their bodies. His movements kept up until his arms finally gave out and he collapsed partly on top of her, absolutely spent.

They were both sweaty and panting, but neither wanted to move away. Marinette rubbed her hands slowly up and down Chat’s back and he nuzzled her neck at the place where he’d teased her earlier. He grinned at the small hickeys he’d made wondering if he'd be able to see them at school on Monday.

Eventually, Marinette felt her lower body starting to go numb and she shifted her weight as a means of telling Chat to get off of her. He obliged, sliding back so that he could sit on his knees between her legs once more. She grimaced as she felt his cock slide out of her, noting a bit of soreness in her groin.

Chat removed the condom carefully and tied a knot in the end. He shakily climbed over her legs and stood, making sure he had his footing before he walked over to her desk to deposit the filled latex into the wastebasket beneath.

Marinette was torn. She missed the warmth of his body and wanted nothing more than to shut off the light and cuddle up in bed next to him, but that sounded dangerous.

She didn’t realize she had been staring at him until he looked over his shoulder and caught her at it. “Like what you see,” he asked, waggling his eyebrows and shaking his perfect ass from side to side a few times for emphasis.

She rolled her eyes. “I would say fuck you,” she added, “But I can already hear your reply: _‘But you already have, purr-incess.’_ ”

He smiled broadly as he walked back towards the chaise. He stooped to retrieve his boxer-briefs then winked at her before turning around to slide them back on so she could continue to ogle his butt.

She hated how much she enjoyed the show and snatched up her oversized sweater so she could slide it on before he turned back around. He pouted when he found the cat eyes staring back at him instead of her nipples. Marinette giggled, a happy warmth spreading through her body.

She stood up from the lounge and stretched her arms up, the sweater rising dangerously high but still long enough to cover her, making Chat pout even more. She laughed then and rose up on her tiptoes to give his nose a quick poke as she walked past him towards her bathroom. An involuntary grin spread across his face as he watched her go.

Despite her fears, Marinette did not chase off Chat that night. Nor did she bar him from returning multiple times over the course of the weekend, their schoolwork falling by the wayside in favor of more exciting educational experiences.

\-------------------------------------

Chat was the first to recognize he’d broken rule number one.

It’d been a few months since they’d leveled up their lessons to sex. After some practice he was getting her to orgasm consistently and was becoming something of an addict for the way she moaned his alternate persona’s name and the post-coital flush that covered most of her body after she came. She’d also gone to a free teen clinic and gotten an IUD, so they’d been able to try condom-less sex. They both agreed that the removal of that thin latex layer made a world of difference, in a mind-blowing way.

He woke up one morning and, like many mornings, found a deliciously naked Marinette wrapped in his arms. But unlike any other morning, he found himself gazing down at her while she slept and thinking, _‘I could wake up to this every day.’_

As he watched her breathe, tracing the curves of her face in an effort to commit this moment to memory, his eyes widened in realization and abject terror at what that thought meant. _‘No, no, no! How could this have happened without me noticing?’_

He carefully got out of bed, making small movements so as not to wake the still sleeping girl. She immediately rolled over into the warm indent he left behind, mumbling something in her sleep that sounded like, “Bad, kitty,” before settling.

He got dressed quickly and gathered up all the schoolwork he’d brought over, which had lain mostly untouched on the floor. He usually left a calling card if he took off before she woke up and, not wanting to alert her to the fact that his whole universe had just changed, he drew a stick figure Chat Noir waving goodbye on a post-it note and stuck it to her computer screen before slipping out through the balcony.

He got back to his room in record time and detransformed immediately. There were already a few decent-sized wheels of Camembert waiting for Plagg on the coffee table and he pounced on the pile as soon as he was free.

“Why the big rush?” he asked his charge between large bites of the first tasty treat.

“Something terrible has happened,” Adrien replied. He was pacing around his room and running his fingers through his hair.

“Like you finally realizing you’re in love with Marinette?” Plagg replied sarcastically as he threw the last bite of cheese into his mouth.

Adrien stopped pacing and turned towards the little black cat.

“You’re seriously just realizing this now?” Plagg replied, shaking his head in disbelief. “I swear, Master Fu sure knows how to pick ‘em.” The kwami started in on his second Camembert wheel.

“But…” Adrien started.

“’But my fair sweet, Ladybug?’” Plagg mocked in a whiny, singsong voice. “’But how do I know it’s love when it snuck up on me like this?’ ‘But how can I be so smart and so dumb at the same time?’”

Adrien folded his arms and gave Plagg a death stare. The kwami was completely unfazed.

“I’ve seen you humans fall in love in a thousand and one ways,” Plagg continued as he nibbled on his cheese. “Sometimes with more than one person, sometimes during overlapping time periods, sometimes even just the same person multiple times. I’ve seen love strike people down in seconds or creep up on them over the course of an entire lifetime, only making itself known when one of the pair is gone. The only thing that never changes is how stupid it makes you.”

“That was almost sweet of you,” Adrien said as he relaxed his arms.

“Well, don’t get used to it, kid,” Plagg replied as he finished off the second wheel and reached for the third. “I have a reputation to uphold.”

Adrien sighed and started to pace a little more. “I need to think,” he finally said. “I’ll be in the shower.” He couldn’t focus with Marinette’s scent on his skin.

“Don’t mind me,” Plagg responded. “I’m entertaining less complicated company. Isn’t that right, Camembert?”

Adrien rolled his eyes and walked into his bathroom, locking the door behind him before stripping out of the clothes he’d been wearing when he transformed yesterday. He turned on the shower and waited, stepping under the spray as soon as it had warmed up. He went through his typical hygiene routine on autopilot as he tried to center his thoughts.

Somewhere between rinsing the shampoo out of his hair and washing his face, he came to the conclusion that there was no happy ending here.

If he confessed and she loved him back, they couldn’t start dating for two reasons. One, it was too dangerous for her. If Hawkmoth ever learned that Chat Noir was in love with Marinette, she would be an instant target for his akuma. And two, his feelings for Marinette were above and beyond his current feelings for Ladybug, but part of him still loved his polka-dotted partner. That part would continue to do anything for her, including sacrificing the whole of himself to protect her. He couldn’t ask Marinette to be with him knowing that he would constantly be putting himself in harm’s way for another girl.

 _‘If only Marinette and Ladybug were the same person in real life instead of only in my dreams,’_ he thought bitterly.

He knew he should tell Marinette regardless that he’d broken rule number one, but he didn’t think he had the willpower to confess, knowing that it might hamper their friendship and that she would definitely put an end to their intimate explorations. Somewhere deep down he knew it would just hurt that much more when it all inevitably came crashing down later, but by the end of his shower he’d made the decision to keep his discovery to himself so he could continue to have some semblance of a romantic relationship with his princess and hold on to the first place he'd had in years that felt like home.

!@#$%^&*()_)(*&^%$#@!@#$%^&*()

**Author's Notes:**

There’s that! Chapter four of six knocked out. Well not really, it took me forever to write this part ‘cause I’ve never written a sex scene before. Such a challenge!

I know that I am short-changing some aspects of the development of the MariChat relationship, but I want to keep this story short, otherwise I'm not sure that I would ever finish it. Maybe in the future I'll have the patience and inspiration to be more detailed, but I'm glad that you have all been so receptive to what I've been able to do at my current level.

As stated previously, feel free to leave questions, comments, suggestions, and kudos :)

Resources:

  * Inspiration for Marinette’s pre-fuck outfit: [Sweater](http://66.media.tumblr.com/56f0b7b1964e9834671605d79b6b10eb/tumblr_o2qrgvcDQo1sfd12so1_1280.png) 
  * [Key and Peele sketch on cunnilingus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyViuXFyIE4)




	5. Tipping Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Thank you again to everyone who has left comments and kudos so far! Y'all are super motivating.
> 
> 2\. To skip more mature content, do NOT read the portion of this chapter between the 2nd and 3rd dashed lines. 
> 
> 3\. I did not realize how different the schooling system is in France compared to the US. I’m writing this as though they are senior students at lycée together ‘cause in my mind that was the equivalent of US high school. I was doing research and Marinette would probably attend a lycée professionnel for fashion and would not be in the situation I wanted to set-up, but for the purposes of this story they all attend the same lycée and she is in the “série économique et sociale” and will be moving on to fashion school after, cool? They’ve already taken their baccalauréat and are just coasting to graduation.

Marinette couldn’t believe the words that had just come out of her mouth:

 _I. Love. You_.

The three words seemed to reverberate around the courtyard she was standing in with Adrien. He didn’t seem to know what to say, but she could tell from his expression that he was trying to find the right words to reject her.

As he opened his mouth to respond, she made the decision to do the mature thing: she kicked off her shoes, turned tail, and ran like her life depended on it, which, from the way her entire body felt cold and numb, it probably did. She thought about transforming into Ladybug to hasten her get away but decided she didn’t need to. The adrenaline flooding her body fueled her feet as effectively as any ancient magic. She practically flew over the city sidewalks; her bare feet providing the perfect backbeat for her panicked breathing.

She and Adrien had been at their lycée’s end-of-year dance when those earth-shattering words had slipped from her mouth. They’d gone to the dance together, as friends, and she had just messed everything up.

They’d stepped outside to get some fresh air and had ended up wandering around the garden, which had been decked out with white strings of lights for the occasion. The pair was engaged in a fierce debate regarding the suitability of the actor chosen to play the main protagonist for the upcoming live action adaptation of _Ultimate Mecha Strike_ when they turned a corner and the toe of Marinette’s heel caught the edge of a cobblestone. She started to flail forward and felt herself falling face first towards the ground. But, instead of feeling the cold, hard impact of stone, she felt warm arms encircle her and found herself looking up into Adrien’s face.

The angle of the lights cast the upper half of his face in shadow giving the appearance that he was wearing a black mask. His glowing green eyes were the only things visible within the darkness. Her breath caught in her throat.

Forgetting for an unfortunate instant that he wasn’t Chat, Adrien flashed her his alter ego’s characteristic smirk. “Careful, I’m easy to _fall_ for,” he said as he righted her and winked.

Marinette’s heart gave a wild lurch and she felt herself flush. She suddenly realized that it had been ages since she’d felt this way around Adrien. Not that those fluttering feelings had gone away per se. Seeing Adrien acting every bit the carbon copy of Chat Noir, she had the sudden realization that the feelings had simply been transferred and were now strictly relegated to rendezvous with a certain catboy. Her eyes widened as she stared at Adrien in disbelief.

“Uh,” Adrien said uncertainly. “You okay, Marinette? You’re looking at me like I just sprouted a second head.” He chuckled nervously as he rubbed the nape of his neck. He hoped he hadn’t just accidentally given himself away. Plagg had told him that the Miraculous had ways of protecting the identities of their users, but Adrien wasn’t sure how blatantly obvious he could be and still stay cloaked.

It took them both completely by surprise when the next three words out of Marinette’s mouth were, “I love you,” spoken in an astounded whisper that nonetheless carried across the empty, otherwise silent courtyard. She looked completely dazed. Only she knew that her words, despite being directed at the boy standing across from her, were actually meant for the superhero he seamlessly embodied in that moment.

Adrien was dumbstruck. Part of him was jealous. He didn’t understand how Marinette could still love him as Adrien when it was so obvious that she was meant to be with Chat. He squashed that feeling down quickly, noting that since he was both Adrien and Chat Noir, it was something of a moot point.

In a perfect world, he would have taken a step towards her to close the short distance between them, kissed her, and then told her that he whole-heartedly returned her feelings. But they didn’t live in a perfect world, and he needed to find the words to tell her as much without outing himself as Chat Noir or, for personal reasons, lying to her directly about his true feelings.

He was almost as relieved as she was when she turned and ran.

 

\------------------1------------------

 

Chat beat Marinette back to the bakery. He began pacing back and forth across the floor after he let himself in, his hair becoming more and more disheveled as he ran his claws through it nervously.

As soon as he heard the front door chime downstairs he quickly sat down on the lounge and began flipping through a magazine, hoping that he looked the perfect picture of boredom rather than the anxious mess he truly was.

A few moments later the trapdoor slammed open and Marinette came rushing in. She set her clutch down on the floor and slid it over towards the desk before hoisting the rest of her body through the opening. Her face was flushed from her excursion and her hair, which had been woven up into a neat bun, was in complete disarray.

Chat hadn’t been quite sure what to expect, mostly tears and blubbering and other things that would probably require tissues. What he definitely hadn’t prepared himself for was the tidal wave of anger that he was greeted with.

“Of course _you’re_ here,” Marinette said, as she violently banged the trapdoor back down behind her, barely sparing a glance in his direction.

Chat winced, both at her tone and the loud noise. He was thankful that her parents had decided to go on a date night and likely wouldn’t be home for hours. Marinette’s unexpected confession had ended the teenagers’ night out extraordinarily early.

He played dumb. “What’s eating you, _purr_ -incess?” he asked, casually closing the magazine before setting it back down on the chaise. Apparently he’d been holding it upside-down. So much for being nonchalant.

His faux pas appeared to go unnoticed as Marinette continued to refuse to meet his eye and instead busied herself with random tasks such as pulling the remaining pins from her hair and readjusting her dress after her unexpected sprint. Her blue-black locks cascaded around her face like a curtain, further shielding her from the boy’s inquisitive stare.

“Adrien not the prince charming you hoped he would be?” Chat pressed. He felt a little guilty about digging into her when he knew exactly _what_ had transpired, but he still didn't know the _why_ and that fact allowed him to push the guilt aside.

All the fight seemed to go out of Marinette at the sound of his civilian name.

“No,” she said sighing. “He was perfect, as always.” She finally turned to face Chat, leaning back against her desk. She kept her eyes trained on the ground in front of her. He was surprised to discover that the flush from her nighttime run had actually expanded, despite her having had several minutes to recover at this point.

He stood up and walked towards her. When he was in front of her, he gently lifted her chin with his clawed hand so she had little choice but to look into his eyes.

“Couldn’t have been that perfect if he did something to make you run barefoot through the streets after dark,” he said, giving her a small, encouraging smile, hoping it would make Marinette open up to him as it usually did.

He was surprised when her face turned an even darker shade of pink as she met his gaze. She quickly turned her head to the side and placed her hands on his chest in order to gently push him away before she took several steps to the right.

When she felt like she was far enough away, she turned and met his gaze again. It looked like some of her anger had returned.

“It wasn’t him, okay?” she spluttered. “It was you!”

His eyes widened in shock and his mouth dropped open. That’s when he noticed that it wasn’t just anger, there was a good amount of fear present in her expression too.

“You with your stupid puns and your stupid chivalry and your stupid kindness,” Marinette started to ramble, face still scarlet and hands gesturing wildly. “And that stupid mischievous smirk that makes me weak at the knees. And your stupid lips that I want to devote all day to kissing. And that stupid feeling of happiness that floods my body when I spend time with your stupid face.”

“Uh… I…” Chat stammered. He had absolutely no clue how to respond. _‘First she confesses her love to Adrien and now she’s going on about how she wants to spend all day kissing Chat,’_ he thought. ‘ _What the heck is going on?’_

“I’m not finished!” she exploded.

He snapped his mouth shut and his cat ears folded back against his head as he winced again.

She strode towards him and he took several steps backwards as she approached afraid that the figurative flames of her wrath might actually manage to hurt him.

The backs of his knees hit the lounge and he fell back onto it with a soft thump, keeping his hands up in a gesture of both surrender and defense.

She towered over him and began punctuating each part of her speech with a jab of her index finger to his chest.

“Because of your stupid ability to slip your way into my heart,” she began. “I accidentally said, ‘I love you,’ in front of Adrien. Now he thinks I love him and our friendship is completely torched."

Chat’s ears perked halfway back up.

“But don’t you?” he asked quickly before she could interrupt him or continue her rant. “Love him, I mean. Don’t you love Adrien?”

Once again, Marinette seemed to deflate. Chat lowered his hands and waited patiently for her to respond.

“I thought I did,” she finally said, her own hands now clenched down by her sides. “I don’t know when it happened, but I stopped loving him the way I used to.”

“Then why…?” Chat began to ask, but she didn’t let him finish.

“I didn’t mean for him to hear,” she said softly, her eyes pleading with him to understand something she didn’t want to say aloud. “I was being my normal klutzy self and then all of the sudden it was like he was you and it caught me off guard and the words just slipped out.”

She could see from the confusion etched on his face that he still wasn’t getting it.

Marinette sat down on top of him, straddling his thighs, and his arms automatically wrapped around her waist to stabilize her. She brought her arms up and draped them around his neck then pressed her forehead to his.

“I can’t say it again, chaton,” she whispered, her warm breath caressing his cheeks as she scanned his eyes for some shred of realization.

After a few agonizing moments, everything clicked. She saw the exact moment that comprehension came to Chat. And before he could say or do anything, she pressed her lips to his.

Though she’d kissed him a million times before, none compared to this. She tried to pour everything she felt into the kiss in an attempt to confirm without words that she had fallen for him despite her rules.

For the smallest of seconds, Chat felt nothing except bliss in the knowledge that the girl he was in love with loved him back. Then, the reasoning part of his brain jump-started and screamed that acting on their mutual feelings was a terrible idea.

Unfortunately, as Marinette deepened the kiss, that part of his brain was easily silenced.

 

\-------------------2-----------------

 

Somehow they managed to disentangle themselves for long enough to make it up to Marinette’s bed, a trail of discarded clothes marking the path they took to the bottom of the ladder.

Marinette positioned herself on top of Chat and proceeded to pepper a line of languid kisses down his neck. Each kiss sent an electric thrill along Chat's spine and the soft brush of her breasts against his chest caused goosebumps to spring up on his arms. The moonlight filtering in through the skylight bathed them both in an ethereal glow.

His thoughts were blissfully blank as he reveled in the feel of her body against his and the tingling left behind by each gentle breath that grazed his skin. His hands carefully traced the muscles of her back and settled on her hips where they exerted a comforting pressure that made Marinette's heart race.

She brought her face back up to his and their lips reconnected in a deep, slow kiss. They took their time with each movement, as if trying to commit every touch, taste, and sound of this moment to memory.

Marinette began gently grinding against Chat, her slick clit rubbing up and down his erection eliciting a moan that was quickly lapped up by her tongue. A pleasant and familiar warmth began to build in both of their bellies.

She pulled back and sat upright, holding his shoulder with one hand to steady herself while her other hand slid down his chest, making its way to the place where their bodies still met.

His hands tightened on her waist as she eased the tip of his shaft inside of her, the slight pinpricks of pain from his gloved left hand melding into her pleasure. She paused to give herself time to adjust, returning her hand to his other shoulder as she waited. To help her relax, Chat moved his right thumb to her clit and began moving it in small circles, watching her face instantly flush a rewarding shade of pink.

Marinette’s eyes fluttered closed and she bit her lower lip, failing to prevent a breathy moan from escaping as she slowly sat back and his cock steadily slid into her.  Chat gazed up at her, his eyes swimming with adoration and desire as he took in the slight part of her lips, the light sheen of sweat on her forehead, and the gentle bounce of her breasts as she moved. He didn’t understand how anyone could be so beautiful.

When he was fully inside of her, her eyes drifted back open. The look of love flooding Chat’s expression caused her pulse to pick up again and the bottom dropped out of her stomach. She’d never wanted anything as much as she wanted him. She felt as though she was flying and falling all at the same time and it made her want to runaway even as she rushed forward at full speed. She leaned back down to capture his lips with hers once more.

As Chat’s thumb continued to toy with her, she gradually lifted up her hips, then eased them back down again before he could slip completely out of her. Her actions sent a wave of heat through his body and he hummed against her lips.

Marinette sat back again and moved her right hand to the wall at the head of the bed for leverage. She repeated her hip lift, maintaining her slow speed on the upward movement, but using the wall to push down slightly faster and harder on the downward stroke. Her action drew sharp gasps of pleasure from both of them.

She continued to repeat the movement of her hips, quickening her pace by a hair’s breadth each time. She kept in time with the circles Chat was still administering to her clit, feeling the tension in her lower abdomen build at a tantalizingly slow rate.

Chat slid the hand not devoted to her clit to her breasts and began alternating between massaging them and gently pinching her aroused nipples, each pinch pulling a much-appreciated gasp from Marinette.

He could feel her starting to tighten around his member. “Marinette…” he moaned, the sheer sound of his voice enough to increase the tension in her lower abdomen by a significant level. She wished that she had been brave enough to actually say, “I love you” and to tell him she was his Lady and to ask him his real name so that she could reciprocate with a moan of her own.

His hand left her breasts, trailing down her side to come to rest on her waist once more. Using the hand as leverage, he thrust up into her on her next downward stroke. The action forced his cock farther in than she had expected and made her gasp out the only name she had for him, “Chaton!”

A few more similar thrusts and she was on the precipice of her orgasm. She stared down at her kitty, the expression on his face letting her know that he was close too. His eyes were closed tight, a sign that he was barely holding on as he waited for her to crest. She desperately wanted to cum at the same time as him.

“Chaton,” she whispered tenderly, “Please, look at me.”

His eyelids rose slowly. She’d never hated his mask more. She wanted to look into his eyes directly, unencumbered by the green lenses that granted him night vision.

Despite the mask, a profound longing was clearly evident in his eyes and his gaze gave Marinette the final push she needed into orgasm. She continued to ride him as she came, trying her best not to let her eyes roll back or close. Her nails dug into his shoulder. “Holy shit, Chat,” she moaned as warmth flooded her entire body and her pelvic muscles clamped down. “Please, cum with me,” she pleaded. “Can you do that for your princess?”

He finally let go, his lips parting and his face contorting as he began to erratically thrust into her, emptying himself as deeply inside of her as he could reach. “Fuck, Marinette,” he gasped, so utterly turned on by the sight of her cumming with him that he felt another wave of pleasure rock him to the core.

Marinette also felt a second peak hit and this time she couldn’t stop her eyelids from drifting close. A wordless moan slipped past her lips. As her pleasure plateaued, the moan quickly dissolved into rasping groans that came out between her short, shallow breaths.

After several long seconds, they both began to slow as fatigue set in. Chat moved the hand at her waist up to her hair and started to thread his fingers through her wild locks, tenderly brushing the loose strands back behind her ears and away from her face. His other hand moved away from her clit coming to rest on her waist, his wet thumb now tracing delicate circles on the thin skin overlaying the bone.

They finally stopped all together and Marinette slumped forward on top of him, burying her face in his neck. Chat could feel her trembling. He turned his head to face her and placed gentle kisses on her face and neck wherever his lips could reach.

Despite her small wordless whines, he gradually moved to the side, and slipped his cock out of her. She snuggled immediately back into his chest causing him to chuckle as he stroked her back and nuzzled the top of her head with his cheek.

“Don’t fall asleep yet,” he whispered. “You have to go to the bathroom first.”

“Noooooooooo,” she whined, cuddling closer.

“Come on,” he wheedled. “It’ll take 5 minutes max.”

She grumbled, but complied, sitting up and scooting quickly over to and down the ladder.

Chat stared at the ceiling in her absence. He was flooded with endorphins and a variety of sleep-inducing post-coital hormones that made it difficult to stay awake, let alone form conscious thought. There was something important he was supposed to remember, but he couldn't find it in himself to try very hard to recall what that thing was.

Marinette returned in record time and the lovers curled into one another, clutching each other as though the daylight would come to tear them apart.

 

\-------------------3-----------------

 

Chat woke up an hour or two later and immediately began freaking out. Now that the endorphins had gone, reality was setting in.

 _‘What have I done?’_ he thought as he stared at the girl lying peacefully in his arms. She was completely oblivious to the chaos raging in the mind of the boy beside her. _‘It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I didn’t want to hurt her.’  
_

She knew now. There was no way she couldn’t know that he loved her and it was now perfectly clear that she loved him too. But nothing about their situation had changed since the time he’d first realized his true feelings. Being with her as Chat Noir was a risk he couldn’t allow her to take.

Now he didn’t have a choice. He knew if he tried to talk to her and explain all the reasons they couldn’t be together, he’d only have to look into her eyes once to forget them all. He decided to follow Marinette’s example from last night.

He placed one last gentle kiss on her lips and whispered a sad, soft, “I love you too.” Then, he grabbed up all his things and ran.

 

\-------------------4-----------------

 

Marinette woke up alone in bed the next morning. It wasn’t often that Chat left early, but it did happen on occasion so she didn't think too much of it until she noticed that his pillow was also gone. When she noted its absence she bolted upright.

Looking around her room she was stunned to see that nothing of Chat’s remained. She had thought her heart had hurt at the sight of rejection in Adrien’s eyes, but that feeling was nothing compared to the utter emptiness that flooded her at the realization that Chat had likely abandoned her.

Last night had felt like a dream. She’d thought their bodies had been communicating the deeper feelings they had for each other but wouldn’t dare speak aloud. Apparently she had read the signals completely wrong. He’d seemed so sincere, but maybe what he’d really wanted was a warm bed and a fuck buddy all along.

She got shakily out of bed and climbed down from the loft. She threw on an over-sized Jagged Stone t-shirt that was draped on the third to last rung. A part of her refused to believe what her eyes were telling her, but as she steadfastly scanned the room, she couldn’t continue to deny the fact that the black cat had left zero trace of his presence. _‘Guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…’_ she thought. Even the voice in her head sounded heavy.

“Marinette?” came Tikki’s small voice. The kwami was peeping out of the set of drawers she slept in whenever Chat stayed over. The tiny deity had been woken by Chat as he collected his belongings from all over Marinette’s room in the early hours of the morning. She’d known what it meant and had been dreading the hour when her charge would wake to find him gone. The hollow look in Marinette’s eyes was not wholly unexpected, but the panic it started to induce in Tikki was. “Marinette, are you alright?”

Marinette continued to stand stock still in the center of the room, her face a complete mask. Tikki flew over to her and embraced her cheek. At the kwami’s touch, tears began to spill from Marinette’s eyes. “It’ll be okay, Marinette,” Tikki said soothingly, rubbing small circles on Marinette’s skin.

“Tikki,” Marinette finally spoke, her voice barely more than a whisper. “Tikki, I… I love him. I love that stupid alley cat.”

Her voice broke on the last word and she fell to her knees, hands clutched to her mouth in an attempt to physically prevent any sobs from escaping.

“I know, Marinette,” Tikki said, clutching her charge as tightly as she could, some tears of her own spilling out between her closed lids.

After a minute of silence punctuated only by Marinette’s tearful gasps, the girl brought her hands down to her lap. She hadn’t cried this hard since the time Chat had almost been erased from existence by Timebreaker.

“How did I just realize this yesterday?” she asked, shaking her head slowly. “How could I have been so blind? I’ve been in love with him for so long…"

Her gaze scanned the room one more time, looking for anything that could signal that the catboy planned to come back. "I don't understand how he could just take off like this,” she managed to choke out between sobs when no such item caught her eye.

She was starting to hyperventilate and tried to concentrate on her breathing so she wouldn’t have to focus on her anguish. She closed her eyes and counted to ten. When she opened her eyes, Tikki was no longer at her cheek. The kwami was in front of her, dragging Marinette’s cell phone out of the clutch she’d taken to the dance last night.

Marinette had forgotten all about the dance. It felt like an event she’d attended in a previous life.

Tikki continued to pull the phone towards Marinette until it was a hand’s breadth away, at which time Tikki opened up Alya’s contact information and hit dial.

The phone rang several times before Alya’s voice came on with a groggy, “Hello?”

Marinette was on autopilot as she reached out and brought the phone to her ear.

“Too early,” a muffled male voice groaned through the line.

“Shhh!” Alya’s voice said, turning away from the phone. “Hello?” she repeated, her voice directed into the phone once more. She sounded more awake now, and also a little concerned. “Marinette? Are you there? Is everything okay?”

Marinette reminded herself to just keep breathing. “Alya,” she eventually said. She tried to keep the waver out of her voice but failed miserably. “I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

 

!@#$%^&*()_)(*&^%$#@!@#$%^&*()_)

 

**Author's Note:**

Chapter five of six! Had to have the angst-filled stereotypical rom-dram-com climax. Sorry for the delay, been having a wee bit of writer's block. I shall try to have the next (and final) chapter out within the next week.

As stated previously, feel free to leave questions, comments, suggestions, and kudos :)


	6. A Pair of Star-Crossed Lovers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter did not come out within a week as promised. Thank you all for taking the time to read this story, and a special shout out to all those who left comments or kudos. Hope you enjoy this concluding chapter! No mature content warnings for this chapter. Sorry, not sorry. Sex scenes are just too exhausting for me to write to try and get three into this six chapter story.

Alya spent every night at Marinette’s for the first two weeks after Chat left. She’d been more surprised than upset that Marinette’s mystery boy had been Chat Noir and, contrary to her journalist nature, she’d refrained from asking any probing questions that might help her narrow down his identity. The pair spent most days after school working on the light amount of homework their teachers were assigning, watching random videos on YouTube, going on walks around the city, and discussing the stupidity of human emotions.

Alya would have kept sleeping over too, for as many weeks as it took for Marinette to regain some semblance of her usual verve, but at the end of the second week Marinette had finally told her, “I’m going to have to learn how to sleep on my own again eventually, Alya. Plus, I bet Nino misses you. Don’t tell me you don’t miss him too.”

After that, another few weeks passed during which Alya spoke to Marinette over the phone every night until the former couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. Unfortunately, Marinette continued to stay up for hours after the calls ended. The upside was that Ladyblog merchandise orders were being filled at a never-before-seen pace. The downside was that Marinette was using up concealer almost as fast as she could purchase it.

Worried about her new onset insomnia and lack of appetite, her food-loving parents tried talking to her about the changes going on in her life. However, she waved them off, saying she was merely stressed out about graduation and her upcoming transition to Central Saint Martins’ elite fashion design program in London. Luckily, Alya would be moving with her to attend the London School of Economics and Political Science in order to obtain a masters in media and communication studies, otherwise Marinette could envision herself becoming a hermit in the new, unfamiliar city.

School was also torture for Marinette. Her relationship with Adrien had been extremely strained ever since the fiasco at the dance. At first, they’d barely been able to look at each other, which was extremely awkward at their communal lunches with Nino and Alya.

After a few days, Marinette had plucked up enough gumption to pull him aside and explain the situation as best she could without mentioning Chat Noir by name. He’d accepted her explanation without question and things had gotten better, but still weren’t the same. She figured it would just take time, which – for better or for worse – they would have more of after graduation since both Adrien and Nino would also be moving to London in pursuit of their dreams.

When Marinette happened to see Adrien at times when he thought no one else was looking, as she spied on him from across the courtyard or as he got into his private car at the end of the school day, she was a little surprised to see that he didn’t appear to be taking good care of himself these days. The dark circles under his eyes mirrored her own and his smile never seemed quite genuine. She wanted to ask him if everything was all right at home, but she was afraid of overstepping the delicate new boundaries of their friendship.

 

\-----------------------------

 

Marinette spent most of her time nowadays thinking about what she would do the next time she saw the black cat since she assumed it wouldn’t be until the next akuma attack.

Part of her wanted to talk to him, to ask him why he’d left and if he’d really never felt anything for her, just to get some semblance of closure. Part of her wanted to string him up by her yo-yo and treat him like a piñata. Another part wanted to pretend that nothing had ever happened between them and, depending on how well she could get into the character of Ladybug, she maintained a small degree of hope that this third option was a viable one, since nothing romantic had ever happened between the two superheroes.

Hawkmoth hadn’t been deploying akuma as often anymore, but when he did the fights were a lot more challenging and generally more violent than when they’d first gotten their Miraculous. After almost three years, he seemed to be growing impatient. Technically so were the Miraculous Five since many of them had plans to leave Paris before year’s end, but they hadn’t made much headway in identifying the villain and always had to wait for him to make the next move. None of them had broached the subject of what would happen if Hawkmoth was still a threat by the time they had to leave, but the problem weighed heavily on each of their minds.

Marinette was grateful that Master Fu had given out the three other Miraculous. She doubted that she and Chat Noir could have handled some of these revved up akuma without the help of Volpina, Jade Turtle, and Queen Bee. Their presence also made it easier to handle seeing her kitty when the next akuma attack happened.

When she arrived at the scene, the other four were already there. She immediately froze when she spotted Chat and all her plans fled her brain. The costume did nothing to protect her from the onslaught of emotions that crashed down on her at the mere sight of him. She realized that the only way she could get through this was to ignore his presence as much as possible. Maybe afterward she’d summon up the nerve to talk to him, but at the moment her only thought was to finish the fight as soon as possible and runaway again.

During the latest attack, all of the Miraculous Five could feel that the group dynamic was off, which caused them to be less coordinated as a team. In particular, Ladybug and Volpina were noticeably colder towards Chat Noir. They barely spoke to him and when they did it was all clipped tones and direct commands. Their standoffishness appeared to be having an effect on the black cat. He was moving with less confidence and there was a distinct shortage of akuma-related puns and smug smirks during the battle.

Despite less than stellar teamwork, after a little over an hour the Miraculous Five were able to break the object the akuma was hiding in and stop the rampaging victim.

After the akuma had been purified, Volpina kept the other Miraculous Five from leaving by telling them she and Jade Turtle had an announcement to make. The Five made plans to rendezvous after kwami had been replenished with their respective snacks in secret nooks and crannies.

About 20 minutes later, the Five reconvened on the rooftop of an abandoned building to talk.

“We found Hawkmoth,” Volpina said bluntly once they were all gathered together.

Everyone except Jade Turtle gaped at her, open-mouthed.

“What?! How?” despite how relatively dispirited he’d been acting all day, Chat Noir was the first to speak. Ladybug kept her eyes squarely on Volpina.

“JT and I have been doing a little on and off investigating on our own over the last year,” Volpina replied. “Seems like Nooroo isn’t trying all that hard to keep Hawkmoth’s identity safe and since he doesn’t know that the Cloak is weak, Hawkmoth hasn’t been as careful to not leave clues.”

Ladybug, Queen Bee, and Chat Noir stood in stunned silence for several moments.

“You want to go after him directly, don’t you?” Queen Bee eventually said.

“Damn straight!” Volpina replied, her hands clenching into fists. “He’s been terrorizing Paris for far too long. And our time here is almost up.”

“What do you mean?” Ladybug asked. It was one of the few things she’d said all day and all eyes turned to her, including those of the black cat. She pointedly continued to stare straight ahead at Volpina, ignoring the strong pull of his gaze.

Volpina sighed and looked at Jade Turtle. He stepped over and grasped her hand. The gesture looked surprisingly natural.

“We know we’re supposed to keep our identities secret,” he began. “But Volpina and I have known each other’s true identities since around the time we both got our Miraculous.”

This announcement was followed by another stunned silence, albeit briefer than the first.

“I knew there was something going on between you two,” Queen Bee said, shaking her head.

“We were dating before we even got the Miraculous,” JT pressed on, ignoring the interruption.

“And when we each kept disappearing from dates at the same time with super lame excuses, we started to get suspicious,” Volpina continued.

“Of course,” JT interjected. “The cloaking powers made it difficult to focus on the all too obvious signs, but eventually everything just fit together too well.”

“Plus, he spilled the beans,” Volpina said with a laugh. The way she was looking at Jade Turtle, with nothing but pure adoration radiating from her gaze, made Ladybug’s heart squeeze painfully in her chest. “Something about how he couldn’t risk his life without telling me, in case something happened to him.”

“Baaaaaabe,” JT whined as his dark skin reddened.

“Enough with the lovey dovey crap,” Queen Bee said and stomped her foot. “What do you mean, ‘Our time here is almost up’?” Ladybug had never been more grateful for the bee’s short fuse.

“You’re such a _buzz_ kill,” Volpina said, turning to Queen Bee. She grimaced at her own wordplay, as if irritated that she was picking up the pun slack for Chat. “JT and I are leaving the country soon and we want this finished before we go so that we can leave with clear consciences. Plus it’s about time we ended this. And now that we know Hawkmoth’s identity, we have the last piece of the puzzle that we need to do that.”

Another silence stretched out as it finally sunk in that after three long years of fighting Hawkmoth and his akuma, it could all be over soon.

“That’s not all,” JT said. He looked hesitant to continue, looking first to Volpina for reassurance and then directly at Ladybug, as though addressing her personally. “We think it would be safest if we all revealed our identities _before_ we go after Hawkmoth.”

Ladybug’s eyes widened and she immediately began shaking her head unconsciously in horror.

“Hear us out,” Volpina said, also directing her words towards Ladybug, who had always been the strongest proponent of keeping their civilian identities secret. “Our goal is for this confrontation to be the last; our final chance to take Hawkmoth’s miraculous. It’s going to be dangerous and potentially deadly. It’s in our best interests to reveal our identities to each other before the confrontation for several reasons.

“For one, it may take multiple uses of our special powers to take Hawkmoth down, which equals multiple de-transformations. We don’t know where this battle will take place, but there might not be any cover, which means the rest of the team would need to protect any teammate who de-transforms until they could change back. It would be almost impossible to keep our identities secret if we have to watch out for each other like that and if we didn’t already know each other’s identities beforehand, it would be really distracting to find them out in the heat of battle. 

“Second, if… if any of us die, I’m guessing we would de-transform immediately. I don’t think any of us wants to find out the identity of their teammate that way.” A heavy, horrified silence confirmed Volpina’s suspicion.

“Which ties into the third and final reason JT and I think it’s best if we know each other’s civilian identities before this fight,” Volpina said, her amber eyes still boring into Ladybug’s bright blue ones. “If we don’t know beforehand and one of us dies, the cause of death or any damage to the scene, like an explosion, could make it impossible to identify our teammate after they de-transform. Their loved ones would never know what happened."

Ladybug felt her mouth go dry. She couldn’t argue against any of those points, morbid as they were. In all honesty, the only reason she was against a group identity reveal at present was because of what had happened between Marinette and Chat. She couldn’t run away in the midst of a group reveal. They’d have to hash everything out, no matter how painful.

All eyes were turned towards her now; she could feel the thick tension in the air as the rest of the Five waited for her answer.

Ladybug broke eye contact with Volpina, looking out towards the Eiffel Tower. _‘Just keep breathing, Marinette,’_ she thought as she tried to ignore the anxiety creeping in at the edges of her awareness.

She didn’t trust herself to speak, choosing instead to nod her head once while her eyes stayed firmly affixed to the distant and peaceful horizon.

Volpina and JT both let out large sighs of relief.

“So when are we doing this?” Queen bee asked. Ladybug thought she could detect a hint of fear in the tone and was relieved that she wasn’t the only one who was afraid.

“From the little I know about everyone here, we all graduate in one week,” Volpina replied smoothly. “So, JT and I thought we could do the reveal Saturday night, spend another week training and getting used to our newfound knowledge, and go after Hawkmoth the week after that.”

“That will also give everyone two weeks to…” JT started before trailing off, a film of moisture appearing over his eyes.

Volpina squeezed his hand more tightly. “To put their affairs in order,” Volpina finished for him. “In case we don’t all make it back home.”

 

\------------------------

 

Marinette tried to speak to Chat right after the gathering, but he made his escape as soon as a meeting place and time had been chosen for the Reveal on Saturday night. She’d been too weary, both from the fight with the akuma and the gloomy tone of the group conversation, to chase him down.

On top of everything else Marinette was feeling, she’d been surprised and hurt that Chat hadn’t stuck around to try and talk to Ladybug. She’d thought for sure that he would want to have a smaller reveal, just the two of them, a few days early. They’d started this adventure out together after all and he’d been begging to know her civilian identity since day one. Maybe the cold shoulder she’d been giving him during the battle had been too much of a deterrent for the boy. He’d likely assumed that she would simply reject his request.

Regardless, she knew one thing for certain: Chat could not find out that she was Ladybug in front of the other Five. Unfortunately, she still didn’t know a good way to contact him while out of the suit. She’d considered using the LadyBlog forum but thought it too risky.

Tikki was trying to be supportive, but Marinette knew the little god was disappointed that her charge had let Chat slip away after the last akuma battle.

“You have to talk to him, Marinette,” the little kwami chided gently. “It’s the only way to fix this.”

“I know, Tikki,” Marinette sighed. “Seeing him just hurt more than I expected.”

As though he’d heard her thoughts, two nights after the group decision to reveal their civilian identities, Chat came barging into Marinette’s room. She’d thought offhand about locking the balcony doors ever since he left, but hadn’t been able to make herself do it yet. Chat seemed almost as surprised as Marinette when he found himself standing in the middle of her room.

Marinette was sitting at her desk when he came in, her vision swimming slightly from the presence of unshed tears. She’d been about to record a video to her parents, to be watched in the event that she died taking down Hawkmoth. Despite the blurriness, she was able to see the balcony doors fly open behind her through her computer’s camera.

When her brain finally caught on to the fact that the catboy standing in the center of her room was real, Marinette whipped around in her chair and stared at Chat in disbelief.

He seemed to be frozen. The look on his face indicated he had either found his way into her bedroom by accident or that he’d come for a specific purpose, but no longer remembered the carefully planned speech he’d been practicing repeatedly for the last two days. She suspected it was the latter.

Neither of them said anything for a long 30 seconds. Yes, Marinette had wanted to talk to him, but she’d wanted to do it on her own terms. She was completely unprepared mentally for his appearance.

Once she got over the initial shock, the unshed tears overflowed and began to slide unbidden from her eyes.

The waterworks broke Chat from his spell and he finally took a step towards her, reaching out his hand as he did so.

“Don’t!” Marinette said harshly, using her sleeve to swipe furiously at her cheeks. “Don’t fucking come near me.” She didn’t know where the anger had come from and she couldn’t stop it from pouring out, even though it was the exact opposite of what she truly wanted.

At her cutting tone, Chat froze again with his clawed hand still outstretched. After a beat, his arm dropped and his cat ears folded back against his head in shame.

He suddenly turned, but instead of immediately fleeing back out through the balcony doors, he began pacing around her room, running his fingers through his hair, and looking everywhere except her face.

“Chat,” Marinette started, willing her voice to stay strong. “Tell me why you came back here or get the hell out of my room.” Despite the tears flooding out of her eyes, she’d gotten the sentence out without sobbing.

Marinette was finding it impossible to control the words coming out of her mouth. She knew this might be her only chance to tell Chat she was Ladybug before the Reveal, but the distress caused by his surprise appearance prevented her from acting logically.

She wished she could channel the cool, collected, confidence of her superheroine persona, but the blackened lump of char in her chest that used to be her heart was betraying her. If only Tikki would pop out and explain everything for her. Alas, she could see that the bright red kwami resolutely perched in the loft was eyeing her with an expression that stated quite clearly, “You made this mess; I am not fixing it for you.”

At Marinette’s words, Chat stopped pacing and turned to face her. She was shocked to see that there were tears reflected in his eyes now too. Guilt was etched in every line of his face. He took a deep shuddering breath and finally spoke.

“I just… I wanted… No, I _needed_ to come and tell you that I… I love you, okay?” he managed to get out, his voice cracking on the last word as the tears started to trail down his cheeks. He broke eye contact with her, opting to look towards the floor. “We’re going up against Hawkmoth soon. And, depending on how things go… I thought you deserved to know the truth.”

Marinette gaped at him. Silence had never sounded so loud. “But… you left,” she finally managed to say.

At her words, his head snapped up and he quickly crossed the room towards her, falling to his knees when he reached her chair. He gently grabbed both her hands in his and looked up into her eyes.

“I made a mistake, Marinette,” he said. “I shouldn’t have taken off like that. I should have talked to you. But, I was afraid.” He began rubbing circles onto the backs of her hands with his gloved thumbs, careful not to cut her accidentally with his claws.

Despite everything, his touch caused a familiar and pleasant rush of warmth to spread through her. The way he gazed into her eyes made her heart rate kick up a notch. A look of confusion blossomed across her face.

Chat let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m not explaining this very well,” he said, looking down at their joined hands resting on her lap.

He took a moment to gather his thoughts. “We’ve shared almost everything with each other,” he tried again, looking back up at her face. “But you don’t even know my real name. I’m a superhero and you're a civilian. You see why that can’t work, right?

“But I know you, Marinette. I knew you would try to fight for us and I knew that I would lose. I thought that it would be better to leave without giving you an opportunity to fight. I thought that I could carry the burden of breaking your heart if it meant keeping you safe from Hawkmoth.”

Marinette was having a hard time processing everything he was saying, but her brain was slowly catching up. “You love me?” she eventually asked in a choked whisper.

Chat squeezed her hands reassuringly. “I love you,” he confirmed with a small nod.

“But,” her voice came out stronger this time, “You think we can’t be together because you're a superhero?”

“I _know_ we can’t be together because I’m a superhero,” Chat replied, looking at her earnestly. “You’d be in too much danger! If an akuma hurt you because of your relationship with me, I could never forgive myself. And… I know this is messed up but… a part of me still loves Ladybug despite my feelings for you. You deserve more than that. You deserve to be loved completely; without reservations.”

At his words, a flood of relief swept through Marinette. She started laughing and fresh tears were forced down her cheeks for an entirely different reason than mere minutes ago. Chat’s eyes widened and he gazed at her apprehensively, as though he was worried that he’d broken some delicate wiring in her brain with his confession.

Marinette freed her hands from his and placed them on either side of his head so she could pull his face up to meet hers in a light kiss. She could taste the salt on his lips.

“You stupid cat,” she whispered, still holding his face close to hers so that their noses were almost touching. “You really have no idea, do you? Well… I guess, how could you? I’m just as much to blame, of course. If I hadn’t been so petrified about reveling our identities sooner this could have all been avoided...”

Chat sat back on his heels, breaking free from her hands. The same wide-eyed expression still plastered on his face. “You’re rambling, _purr_ -incess. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer this to the throttling I thought you’d give me, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Marinette jumped up from her chair and reached down to pull Chat up to a standing position in front of her. She looped her arms around his neck, pulling herself up onto her tiptoes so that their foreheads could touch. His arms automatically encircled her waist, locking the pair into an embrace that felt as natural as breathing.

“I have two confessions to make, Chaton,” Marinette started. “The first you already know, and it’s that I love you too. I’m sorry I didn’t have the courage to say it aloud before.”

Chat gave her a sad smile before swiftly pressing a light kiss to the tip of her nose. His action elicited a giggle from Marinette that made his heart ache. The confirmation did nothing to change their present circumstances.

“The second confession I was going to tell you when I woke up, but you were already gone,” she began with a slight tremble in her voice, all trace of humor absent.

Marinette paused. Considering everything that had happened she’d thought the next confession would be easy, but her nerves were starting to get the better of her. She began worrying her bottom lip between her teeth while she worked up the courage to destroy the final barrier she’d been carefully maintaining between herself and her partner for years. Chat could sense her anxiety and gave her waist an encouraging squeeze.

She released her lip and gave him a small lopsided smile before taking a deep breath in. “You don’t have to worry about causing akuma to come after me,” she rapidly let out as her face flushed a delicate shade of pink. “Akuma already come after me because I have one of the things they want. Besides my feelings for you, kitty, the only other thing I’ve ever kept from you is that I’m… I’m Ladybug.”

Now it was Chat’s turn to gape at Marinette.

Her eyes dropped down to his chin in shame. “I’m sorry I never told you. I truly believed it would be safer if we never knew each other’s civilian identities. And then, when we started to become friends… and more, I wanted you to like me for my civilian self, not because of Ladybug, so I was even more incentivized to keep my secret.”

Chat said nothing as she trailed off, his eyes darting between her downturned eyes and the dull, black earrings piercing her earlobes.

Before the silence could stretch out too long she raised her eyes back up to his and pleaded, “Please say something, Chat.”

Now that she had confessed, the Cloak no longer held. Chat’s unencumbered mind instantly flashed back on every instance that had clearly implicated Marinette was Ladybug and he marveled at how strong the Cloak must be to have made him overlook so many obvious signs. His face broke into the widest grin he could make. He couldn’t believe his luck.

He began to laugh wholeheartedly and pulled her closer, so that they were locked in a close-fitting hug. “Of course, you’re Ladybug! It’s so clear now. There’s no one else who could have possibly been her."

His laughter forced his eyes closed causing more tears to spill down his face. When Marinette got over the shock of his initial reaction, she soon joined him in his merriment and tightened her hold on him too.

“I thought you’d be so mad at me,” she whispered when she finally stopped to catch her breath, reveling in the feel of his warm body pressed so close to hers.

“No… just dumbstruck.. In a second you’ll understand what complete fools we’ve been,” he said, still holding her in a fierce embrace. “Plagg, claws in.”

Marinette’s eyes involuntary clamped shut due to the overwhelming brightness of the green light that instantly surrounded Chat. She didn’t see Chat’s black leather suit being stripped away or the palm-sized black cat that left his ring and floated up to join Tikki on the loft bed.

Her breath hitched as she suddenly realized that Chat had de-transformed. For the first time, she was clutching tightly to the boy beneath the mask.

Chat loosened his hold on her and gently pulled far enough away from her so that they were face-to-face again, though still connected by his hands at her waist and her arms around his neck. Marinette slowly blinked open her eyes.

Her companion smirked at the expression of disbelief that popped up on her face.

“A… Adrien?!” Marinette spluttered, her face instantly turning a shade of red that he hadn’t seen since she’d become close friends with his civilian identity. “You're Chat Noir?! _You_ were Chat Noir this whole fucking time?!”

Adrien had thought it impossible, but she was becoming an even darker shade of red as, unbeknownst to him, she thought back on several choice moments of her relationship with his superhero alter ego such as: the first time she’d let Chat into her room and he’d found out she had a crush on what she now knew to be his civilian self; the first time she’d kissed Chat and he’d been so turned on she’d felt him grow harder beneath her; the first time she’d let Chat taste her after warning him about her pubic hair; and on and on. The list of blushworthy situations seemed to stretch out into the infinite forever in her mind.

“There is no god,” Marinette said in a mortified whisper as she stared into Adrien’s teasing emerald green eyes.

“That’s not what you said last time I was here,” he quipped immediately as his smirk became unequivocally more shit-eating.

All of her physical and mental capacities promptly shut down and Adrien was forced to catch her as her knees buckled.

“Careful, LB,” he said, hoisting her up bridal style so he could carry her to the chaise. “I know you must be _feline_ shocked, but there’s no need to have kittens.”

By the end of the sentence he’d managed to set Marinette down on the chaise. She immediately grabbed a pillow and proceeded to mercilessly pummel him.

“I take back _* whack *_ my first confession. _* whack *_ There’s no way _* whack *_ I’m in love with a _* whack *_ no-good _* whack *_ pun-loving _* whack *_ alley cat.” _*whack - whack - whack*_

The hits from the pillow did nothing except make Adrien laugh even harder. His abs were starting to burn from the continuous muscle contractions. Marinette rolled her eyes and threw the useless weapon squarely into his face.

“I seriously thought you were going to pass out back there,” he wheezed, finally catching his breath as his laughter died down. He beamed up at her from where he was kneeling next to the chaise. “And, that’s a lie. You are totally head-over-heels for me, puns and all.”

Marinette couldn’t help but smile widely back at him too. “I can’t believe I fell out of love with you, just to fall in love with you again,” she said, shaking her head incredulously.

“That makes two of us, my Lady,” Adrien whispered, smiling gently at her.

The wonderment and adoration evident in his eyes took Marinette’s breath away. She reached forward and lovingly caressed his cheek, brushing lightly against his lips when she reached the lower half of his face. She was rewarded with a soft purr and a slight flush from her kitty. “I can’t believe all this time you’ve been so close, Bugaboo.”

“And yet, you’re still so far away, Chaton,” she responded as she trailed her hand down to his shoulder.

Adrien raised a questioning eyebrow that made the edge of her smile quirk up. She moved her hands so that she could tug on his arms to indicate that he should join her on the chaise. He quickly scrambled to comply, snuggling down on top of her as he did so.

She immediately began stroking his back with one hand and threading her fingers through his hair with her other. “I missed you so much,” she murmured as she worked. “Both… No, _all_ of you.”

“I missed all of you too,” his response came back, immediate but muffled from the way his head was resting against her chest.

They lay entwined on the chaise for the rest of the night, talking and touching and simply being together completely as they never had before. Eventually they knew they would have to focus on their superhero duties, but for just one night they decided to put everything else aside.

It had taken them a long time to get to this place and they thought they deserved that much at least.

 

\------------ (Super Short) Epilogue------------

 

One year later and Marinette was attempting to multi-task.

She was currently succeeding; achieving a level of coordination usually only manageable when she was wearing a certain red and black-spotted outfit. Nonetheless, she was too distracted to dwell on the small victory.

“Yes, Maman. I got the cookies this afternoon,” she said into the cell phone precariously held to her ear by her shoulder. “We haven’t tried them yet, but as soon as I finish sweeping I’ll be able to close the café and head home.”

The soft sound of bristles brushing against hardwood filled the empty room as Marinette stopped speaking to allow her mother to respond.

“Yeah, Alya’s article will be published in next month’s issue,” Marinette soon replied. “We’re throwing her a little congratulations party tomorrow since it will be her first byline.”

Another pause, filled by the sounds of sweeping.

“Yup. Nino’s show is still on for Friday night. He’s actually making enough from this gig to pay his fair share of the rent for the first time in months,” she chuckled warmheartedly into the line.

The broom suddenly clattered to the floor, slipping from Marinette’s shocked grasp at her mother’s next words.

“No, Maman! I do not need a refresher course on _that_ particular subject, thankyouverymuch! Adrien and I are doing just fine and being _extremely_ responsible.”

She toyed with the hem of her apron as she listened to her mother's next words.

"I know, Maman. I'm excited to be moving back to Paris soon too. If Alya hadn't thought about selling Miraculous merchandise on the Ladyblog, I wouldn't be debt-free and on the verge of opening up my own online boutique right now... I owe her so much."

The bell over the café door chimed delicately, alerting Marinette to the entrance of a potential customer.

“Maman,” she quickly said into the phone. “I’ve gotta go, someone just came in. Love you, talk to you soon. Tell Papa I say hello.” She hung up with a tap on the screen then turned to face the person who had entered the shop.

“Sorry about that,” she started. “We’re actually closed, but I’d be more than happy to quickly grab you something that’s ready made if…” She trailed off when she finally saw who it was.

“Hey,” Adrien said, smiling widely at her. “QB had to take off early from dinner, so I figured I'd come here and we could walk home together. But if you’re still open, I’d love to know what today’s specials are.” He winked.

Marinette flushed. He should not have the ability to set her body ablaze with such a simple gesture and some innuendo anymore.

 _‘Two can play at this game,’_ she thought devilishly once her brain rebooted.

For once she was glad that the owner of the café where she worked part-time to cover day-to-day expenses required every employee to wear some version of a French maid outfit _and_ that she had had the psychic foresight to choose to beta-test one of the new Ladybug lingerie prototypes today. She usually wore leggings underneath the uniform to protect her modesty, but she had taken them off to hang dry them after spilling water all over her legs whilst clearing the last customer's table.

“I’ll be right with you, sir,” she said in a purposefully husky voice, locking eyes with her no-longer-so-smug-looking boyfriend.

She turned so that her backside was facing him and proceeded to bend forward to pick the broom up from where she had dropped it.

Her efforts were rewarded with a sharp intake of breath and small moan from her partner, who now stood utterly frozen next to the front door.

Broom in hand, Marinette turned to face him and smirked at the expression of shock he was sporting.

“That’s one hell of a special,” he choked out, his lust-filled eyes now scanning her body greedily. Her heart skipped a beat when he subconsciously licked his lips.

She could finish sweeping when she came in for her morning shift.

She set the broom against the closest table and grabbed her book bag from behind the nearby counter before walking quickly over to Adrien. She leaned up on her tiptoes and spoke tenderly into his ear, “One night only. Get it while it’s hot, chaton.” Her words spurred his body into action and he hurried outside so that she could lock up the café for the night.

The short traipse to their shared apartment had never felt longer, but it was so worth the wait.

 

 

!@#$%^&*()_)(*&^%$#@!@#$%^&*()_)

 

 

Chapter six of six! Behind schedule, but I’m proud that I followed through with this story and finished it.

I chose to skip the details of the scheduled Reveal and confrontation with Hawkmoth as they were merely meant to serve as catalysts and nothing more. Maybe someday I’ll write oneshots for the Reveal and battle, but for now, they are left open to your imagination.

Thank your readership! This fandom is amazing. I’m so glad my sister brought me into the fold and that I have been able to contribute to it in some small way.


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